Bernanke testifies before the House Budget Committee at 10 AM ET
Submitted by
CalculatedRisk on Wed, 06/03/2009 - 5:56am (93 comments)
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Recent Recommendations
This place is dead today, huh?
Bernanke, the $ killer!
Primo, me? Naw
Eric, I'm here.
best wishes
Testimony is TBA.
At least it's not DOA.
Then again...
Naw.
CR - you really are here, and on a tear.
The Mortgage Pig™ reports on the Mortgage Assassin™.
Lefty, what goes well with coffee and muffin?
I'm pondering the kids and summer...
Eric, I'm here.
best wishes
Mmmm.... CR chart pr0n!
Love your work, CR!
I've added a link to Bernanke's prepared testimony.
Eric, thanks - more charts on the way ...
best to all
Our taco wagon arrives about nine or ten, your kids can work there for the summer.
U.S. May ISM services rises to 44% vs. 43.7%
U.S. April factory shipments fall 0.2%
U.S. April core capital equipment orders fall 2.4%
U.S. April factory orders rise 0.3% ex-defense
U.S. April factory orders rise 0.1% ex-transport
U.S. April factory orders rise 0.7%
MarketWatch.com Search
Why don't the committee members just shut up and ask questions? They have Bernanke there - use the opportunity to ask questions the public would like to hear. Geeze. They jabber like a bunch of old women!
If people were worried about the debt ... like me ... why didn't they express that concern 8 or 9 years ago when the U.S. started the structural deficit?
The "recovery" in the 2003 to 2005 period was built on a marshland of debt. Now we are paying the price.
dum luk, thanks for the summary!
best wishes
They are showboating, showbiz is the biz
"If people were worried about the debt ... like me ... why didn't they express that concern 8 or 9 years ago when the U.S. started the structural deficit?"
Because at the time, any dissent was considered close to treason. Any critical analysis of administration policy was labeled un-American and counterproductive.
"Now we are paying the price."
Some are paying much less than others.
Isn't Treasury running out of INK now????? If not, who makes it? I need a good stock tip this morning because I don't have a job anymore........
Don'tcha think it should be called the extravagant spending committee, not the budget committee?
some local green shoots (x posted from sac landing)
'An acquaintance who lives in a new development near me asked about how to tell if a house was going into default. I sat down with her and walked her through the county site. Then we got curious...
On her street in there are 21 houses all bought for 490k or more in 2005 and early 2006:
2 have a tax liens.
4 more are late on taxes since 12/08.
3 more are late since 4/09.
2 of the 9 are occupied.
1 of the 9 with a tax lien is for sale.
0 of the 9 appear on the sheriff's roles or any or the foreclosure tracking sites.'
I don't get how people see a recovery in this.
Bernanke calling the bottom in housing again.
Excuse me, I am an old woman. They jabber like old men. Which they are.
lol, good one lawyerliz
Jane that's almost 50%. The bright side is that the lowered values will INCREASE the affordability index....MAJOR SNARK
I guess they are worried about China after all:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday urged Congress and the administration to start plotting a strategy to curb record-high U.S. budget deficits.
He said failing to do so could eventually erode investor confidence and endanger the economy’s prospects for long-term health.
Bernanke’s comments come as concerns grow at home and overseas about the United States’ mounting red ink.
Fed "purchasing" of agency debt and securities. That's a good one.
Ben's not reading CR's posts
Sales of existing homes have been fairly stable since late last year, and sales of new homes seem to have flattened out in the past couple of monthly readings, though both remain at depressed levels.
Turnover rates for owner-occupied SFR's are still higher than average?
Does anyone have a link to a good foreclosure tracking site? So far I havent found one that does not charge a fee...
hahahaha!
ouch
Remember before the inauguration everyone was sure there were going to be many perp walks once Obama took over? Where the F is Eric Holder? What has he been doing?
Writing gun control legislation.....
curious, yeah - I think Bernanke is wrong on existing home sales. But no one knows for sure ...
best wishes
ShadowInventory,
Realty trac allows you to view foreclosures. They only make you pay if you want the exact street address.
You left out
U.S. March factory orders revised to -1.9% from 0.9%.
Once again we get a rise only by comparing this month's unrevised figure to last month's revision.
Bernankes for the memories
Of bills no one can pay
More financial moral decay
Kick the can another day
Bernankes for the memories...
@ShadowInventory -
I'll add in:
HotPads - Map Search for Real Estate, Apartments & Houses for Rent, Foreclosures and Homes for Sale
It has the nice "heat map" effects if you don't zoom in too far.
@eric re: nobody here
The CRVIX is countercyclical. Now is the time to think about replacing short positions.
Re The Post. Try adding the words "and that is why the market has rallied 40% from last fall" into that testimony in random points.
The U.S. economy has contracted sharply since last fall, with real gross domestic product (GDP) having dropped at an average annual rate of about 6 percent during the fourth quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of this year.
"and that is why the market has rallied 40% from last fall"
S&P Downgrades 59 US Prime RMBS Transactions to ‘D’
Research Recap » Blog Archive » S&P Downgrades 59 US Prime RMBS Transactions to ‘D’
Remember before the inauguration everyone was sure there were going to be many perp walks once Obama took over?
No, I must not have gotten the memo. GS was Obama's biggest campaign contributor. (although checking that open secrets says the Univ of California contributed more than GS. wtf, were they already angling for a bailout?)
Bernanke repeatedly throws off visual cues hat he is lying.
Where the F is Eric Holder? What has he been doing?
DOJ opened another antitrust probe of Google (3 now) yesterday. I know that GOOG's becoming the next MS, but priorities...
Offal men did awful things often. et tu Bernake?
yes but the most obvious clue he is lying being that he is speaking
Bernanke's 15 minutes of fame are up, and 30 Pieces of Silver are not only spent, but were leveraged @ 666 to 1.
Juvie is on a roll!!
it was reported yesterday that there are, get this, 35 million Americans living on food stamps! Hello? That’s 11.4% of our entire 306 million population!
Nathan's Economic Edge
Ouch. My USO and GLD getting taken out back and whipped today.
Surprised the stamp population isn't higher.
A small buz type who sells tires & does repairs sez business is down, 'cause people don't even have the money
to pay for repairs.
A new distinction for Miami-Dade: whe have the highest CC debt in the country.
Must work.
LOL!!! Wages showing a slow rate of growth. I think I just saw his nose grow.
DOJ opened another antitrust probe of Google (3 now) yesterday. I know that GOOG's becoming the next MS, but priorities
Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Christine A. Varney, nominated by President Barack Obama to be the U.S.’s next antitrust chief, has described Google Inc. as a monopolist that will dominate online computing services the way Microsoft Corp. ruled software.
Antitrust Pick Varney Saw Google as Next Microsoft (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
Clifff's notes:
Congress Critters: CBO says we are deep shit.
BB:Yes we are charging it all to the Amex and making the minimum monthly payments because our hollowed out service economy is getting destroyed by the DIY'ers....cause they don't have money either...cause they are loaded up with debt too.
BUT.....it's all gonna turn around later this year because I am a master of psychology!! and it's all in our heads!!
(Hope is not a plan)
The fed is NOT independent. Although I will say that the fed and government "independently" promote wall street shams.
...sorry Liz.........just another fallacy perpetrated "by the establishment" justly exposed here on CR.....
.....signed by a "jabbering old man"......
The "recovery" in the 2003 to 2005 period was built on a marshland of debt. Now we are paying the price.
I agree. My biggest beef is that they are making everyone pay the price rather than just those that created and assumed the excessive debt.
It's stealing in my view.
Would you call a Food Stamp Collector a "Full-Ladle-ist"
wait a minute there lawyerliz
Excuse me, I am an old woman. They jabber like old men. Which they are.
a few weeks ago weren't you bragging about your ample and firm melons even at your age? or do
misrepresent what you wrote?
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is urging Congress and the Obama administration to start plotting a strategy to curb record-high U.S. budget deficits. Failing to do so could eventually erode investor confidence and endanger the economy's prospects for long-term health, he said.
Right....after the 19 too big too fail banks got their trillions and now are crying about TARP repayments.
What a scam and sham !
It's stealing in my view.
Clearly, you're just focusing on all the wrong sorts of details.
I posted this a few weeks ago. Over the next ten years, the fed's remittances to the treasury are expected to be reduced by $90 billion due to the bailouts.
We are giving away the store to wall street.
Also, GSE securities are NOT guaranteed by the U.S. government. The fed is forbidden by charter from holding long term obligations that are not guaranteed by the government. The fed is breaking the law. These holdings are NOT loans so they do not qualify as emergency fed lending.
Just two short years ago:
Reassurance By Fed Chief On Loan Ills - NY Times
But Mr. Bernanke said the Fed believed that was unlikely to happen. “The impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime market seems likely to be contained,” he said.
"it was reported yesterday that there are, get this, 35 million Americans living on food stamps! Hello? That’s 11.4% of our entire 306 million population!"
Local news had a story last night. A food bank had it's refrigerated truck stolen. Beneficiaries of said food bank who were interviewed lamented their condition, saying they didn't know how they would find food to eat... how they often went without. They were interviewed from the windows of their late model SUVs (a line a dozen cars deep stood waiting for their free food), most were overweight (to the point of medical concern), not a one looked homeless.
Interesting times.
Also, GSE securities are NOT guaranteed by the U.S. government.
But that's not what Ben just said.
Take a Name...
I swear, nearly 40% of the southern Indiana town I grew up is on some form of government aid...
food stamps, that's for amateurs... my town's natives go for the full Monty
Bernake "The Federal Reserve will not monitize the debt"
Ben: "The fed will not monetize the debt."
Back in GD 1, the criminals had catchy nicknames like Machine-Gun Kelly, Baby-Face Nelson, etc. But there appears to be nothing catchy about the names of the of the current crop, nor does it appear any of them will be caught accountable for their actions.
"We will not monetize."
HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAA
"If you're a large TBTF bank you should be fine. If you're not, well, perhaps you should stop whining and become one. Otherwise your f--beep-ed. I'll take a few questions now."
What we have seen for some time is an above-average correlation between oil/gold and stocks.
What we want to see is those correlations delink, so that oil/gold can hold value or go up while stocks sink and shorts profit.
Today isn't the day. But I'm betting that's about to happen.
Historically, there is about .2 correlation between oil futures and stocks.
About -.2 between gold and stocks.
Lately, I'd say it's been more like .4 to .6 for both.
These CONgressman must be reading the comments on this blog.
Like I've been saying, after the banks have been bailed out and the financial system "saved" money will become scarce. Money for social security - NFW! Money for health care - NFW! Money for infrastructure - NFW!
We've been swindled.
Thanks to the heroic actions of 19 determined hijackers, financial hegemony is assured for the time-being...
Read my lips....no new taxes.<I/>
there appears to be nothing catchy about the names of the of the current crop
You don't like Helicopter Ben and Turbo Tax Timmy?
Monetize is such a...misunderstood phrase. We prefer to use the phrase shooting green.
Ben: "The fed will not monetize the debt.
Fuc*ing liar.
NervousRex,
I remember that testimony and I remember this forum discussing that testimony real time.
I wish our unrepresenting representatives would question Bernanke on his previous statements considering how blatantly wrong he was.
Either he is stupid or he lied, either is not good in a Fed Reserve Chairman.
Agree too much linkage between gold and stocks. Too much to be real IMO. Stock bulls have been touting gold as a buy along with their bank stocks and their retailers. They will sell gold early IMO to preserve "profits". The banks shares on the other hand well we know they were buying this time last year.
Back to BB killing them softly...
How can you not implicitly trust the beard?
kermit gonna show up riding on a green shoot today ?
EHP was a week early in his call for crude reserves to rise (but hey, he did say he was usually early in his calls).
Oil futures accelerated their decline Wednesday after government data showed an unexpected rise in crude supplies during the week ended May 29. The Energy Information Administration reported that U.S. commercial crude oil inventories rose by 2.9 million barrels last week, while analysts surveyed by Platts had expected a decline of 2 million barrels.
Is he talking to us or the Chinese and the bond market?
Regarding the fed monetizing the debt, Bernanke did not address the > $1 trillion in fed GSE purchases. The fed's GSE purchases are multiples of their treasury purchases.
Bernanke isn't going to print and drop the proceeds from a helicopter on the hoi ploy, when he can just mouse click it to the American Idoligarchy, Simon says.
Sovereign default alert:
"yesterday EU-member Latvia saw its overnight interbank rate surge to a record 16.4% while the overnight deposit rate double to 24% after the country was unable to sell any debt securities at a local debt auction, according to its main stock exchange. The Latvian Treasury had offered to sell 20 million lats ($20 million) of July maturities, 10 million of September, December and June 2010 paper. None of this paper found any buyers."
European banks have quite a bit of exposure to the Baltic countries and other Eastern European countries. Latvia will either have to drop its Euro peg and devalue; or hose away the rest of its FX reserves supporting the local currency, and then devalue.
"We will not monetize."
10-year yields are falling.
AP headline: Geithner faces sluggish market, rents out NY home
Not one spineless congressman will call Helcopter Ben on this:
Fed to Start Purchasing Treasuries to Unfreeze Credit (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
Fed to Start Purchasing Treasuries to Unfreeze Credit (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
Bernanke clearly wants to have the lending under HIS (beard's) control at the Fed.
Kneel before the Beard.
I don't have a problem with B's forecast (along with numerous others) of an economic upturn by year-end, but I'm not sure that it won't be the mini-spike in a "W" recession. I suspect that enough of the stimulus will have kicked in by Q4 and that households will want to part with some of their new-found savings for the holidays, and unemployment increases could reach the null,...
but what about 1Q2010? I don't see anything (except the stimulus) that will sustain the "recovery," and I suspect it is likely we will slip back into recession for at least a couple of quarters before hitting the real bottom. During this period, unemployment will grow, housing sales (SA) will remain at low levels (& inventories at high levels) despite declining prices, lending will remain low, etc.--all the same kinds of things we are seeing now as the recession becomes a glide path instead of an uncontrolled plunge.
I've been wrong many times before, but I still can't see the near-term basis for a sustained recovery--even a weak one as B suggests.
@JP - I just bought a little SDS myself...as if I haven't been stomped by EEV enough.