Thursday, November 11, 2010

Another unbelievable story from the frontlines...



Here's another unbelievable story from the frontlines.

Yesterday I was at Fox and I bumped into John Ryding of RDQ Economics (that's the name of his firm). Ryding used to be the Chief U.S. economist at Bear Stearns (you may see why Bear fell apart in a moment).

I asked Ryding what he was going to speak about and he replied, "Monetary suicide by the Federal Reserve."

I asked him why he was calling it "monetary suicide?"

He said, "Because that's what the Fed was doing."

Suicide is killing yourself, so I don't quite get how the Fed is comitting suicide, but I digress.

I explained that all the Fed was doing is targeting bond yields lower and the way it does that is by buying bonds. That adds to reserves in the bankng system, which basically just sit there and earn some pittance of interest.

Then he said this...

"I get the part about how the Fed is boosting its balance sheet, but the question is, where are they going to get the offsetting liabilities?"

I kid you not; that is what he said.

I sat there, stunned.

I said, "You mean reserve credits?"

He said, "Yeah."

I told him that reserve credit are just created with a touch on the Fed's computer. Those are credits to the banking system that are called, reserves.

He seemed completely at a loss to understand this.

So here's a guy who many know and who is considered to be one of the top Wall Street economists yet he shows himself to be glaringly uneducated when it comes to the Fed and monetary operations. "Where will they get the liabilities to offset their asset purchases???"

I kid you not, that's what he said.

You can't make this stuff up.

Do you wonder, anymore, why we're in such trouble?

10 comments:

Tom Hickey said...

Well, at least he admits to ignorance and doesn’t say that that Fed is "printing money." Maybe that 's a step up from the rest of the clueless crowd. :)

Matt Franko said...

Mike,

Yes unbelievable...

I read that the FRBNY is going to start buying Treasuries in earnest tomorrow....

Here is the schedule they published right in 'Black & White' so to speak...a lot of buying for sure.

It's going to be interesting to see what bond prices do out the term....

Matt Franko said...

PS Tom,

Salutes to you on this Veteran's Day!

Resp,

Ryan Harris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Matt Franko said...

PS Tom,

Salutes to you on this Veteran's Day!

Resp,

mike norman said...

Yes, it will. But when bond yields come down you'll still have people saying, "the market sets rates."

Airelon said...

Well Mike ... I think it's fair to say that the market sets the rates. Think it'd be more accurate to say the Fed _guides_ where the market sets those rates.

Mike Sandifer said...

That is incredible ignorance, even from a banker, but from an economist?

Seething said...

Why were you at Fox?

Ryan Harris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.