Thursday, February 7, 2008

US Banking Crisis At Hand?

Just getting to my desk to see the futures down again...

My "political soul mate" Jake Gint posted the following video over at "the Fly's" place last night. There are two others after it. It's extremely dry. Pretty much, this guy is wondering if we're in the midst of a huge banking crisis, since the FED has run out of reserves, or something.

See, I'm not an economist. I don't understand any of this stuff. That's why I need one of you to explain it to me. Do I buy gold? Foreign currency? Huge sacks of rice to store in my basement?



NOTE: Also, look... blogs are all about participation. Are you a guy? or a girl? While some, (Ragin and Tapeworm come to mind) might have trouble with this seemingly easy question, most of you should just be able to "click it in there."

Go vote in my damned poll!

13 comments:

mOOm said...

The reason that relationship has changed is the introduction of the Term Auction Facility. You can clearly see that at the beginning of Part II of the video on the right hand side of the page. Also the Fed doesn't "run out of reserves". They print money. The problem is if they print too much you get inflation.

Dinosaur Trader said...

moom,

Thanks. I was hoping that you were watching!

-DT

JakeGint said...

Moom,

It's not the Fed's reserves, but the member banks that are droppping, hence -- mayhap -- the NEED for these TAF auctions?

Did the Fed just decide to start these things up on a whim, or did they need a faster way to get their members liquid? Check out the auctions themselves, as they seem to be dropping on their demand side, even as rates (for them to borrow) are dropping.

So, they are either "in the clear" and don't need the TAF, or -- more ominously, they do not have the "proper collateral" to put up to receive the funds.

Your comments are welcome. Like the commie Dino, it's been a while since my last "Money & Banking" class.

Dinosaur Trader said...

Jake,

BTW, I do appreciate you bringing these vids up. If I don't have something to be paranoid and freaked out about I feel empty inside.

The commie,

-DT

mOOm said...

You're going to need someone who is more of an expert on Central Banking than I am, especially with this new thing coming along and changing everything. But I suspect that that's all there is to it.

Dinosaur Trader said...

Moom,

Look, you can't just come by, drop TAF in our laps and then plead ignorance.

You're our expert man!!! Talk to your sources and get back to us! Otherwise I'll be forced to start reading about storing food again...

-DT

Dinosaur Trader said...

Meanwhile, here's what comes up when you search for Term Auction Facility in Google.

-DT

Dinosaur Trader said...

Oh, and here's some frequently asked questions about the TAF... how friendly! Yet, I still don't understand any of this stuff.

-DT

Dinosaur Trader said...

Anyway, all that Federal Reserve stuff got you down or drooling with boredom?

Paris Hilton Cleaning a POOL!

Yay!

-DT

JakeGint said...

Dino... that is NOT my fucking blog, so stop linking me to it.

That's one of Beannie's adherents, who didn't like how I was calling him out on his market calls.

Ah well, we bear the scars...

JakeGint said...

That is not Paris Hilton. She only wished she was that well endowed.

Plus, that model is missing the "hatchet face."

Dinosaur Trader said...

Jake,

I just love the picture on that blog... but okay, that's the last time I'll link it.

And yeah, now that you mention it, perhaps that's not Paris afterall.

-DT

Dinosaur Trader said...
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