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Historical Quack Offs
Quack Off
by Free Market Duck
The Federal
Reserve's Covert Bailout of Europe
by Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr.
The Wall Street Journal
(Dec
28, 2011)
When is a loan between
central banks not a loan? When it is a dollars-for-euros currency swap.
Dallas, TX -- America's central bank, the Federal
Reserve, is engaged in a bailout of European banks. Surprisingly, its
operation is largely unnoticed here.
The Fed is using what is
termed a "temporary U.S. dollar liquidity swap arrangement" with the
European Central Bank (ECB). There are similar arrangements with the central
banks of Canada, England, Switzerland and Japan. Simply put, the Fed trades
or "swaps" dollars for euros. The Fed is compensated by payment of an
interest rate (currently 50 basis points, or one-half of 1%) above the
overnight index swap rate. The ECB, which guarantees to return the dollars
at an exchange rate fixed at the time the original swap is made, then lends
the dollars to European banks of its choosing.
Why are the Fed and the ECB
doing this? The Fed could, after all, lend directly to U.S. branches of
foreign banks. It did a great deal of lending to foreign banks under various
special credit facilities in the aftermath of Lehman's collapse in the fall
of 2008. Or, the ECB could lend euros to banks and they could purchase
dollars in foreign-exchange markets. The world is, after all, awash in
dollars.
The two central banks are
engaging in this roundabout procedure because each needs a fig leaf. The Fed
was embarrassed by the revelations of its prior largess with foreign banks.
It does not want the debt of foreign banks on its books. A currency swap
with the ECB is not technically a loan.
The ECB is entangled in an
even bigger legal and political mess. What the heads of many European
governments want is for the ECB to bail them out. The central bank and some
European governments say that it cannot constitutionally do that. The ECB
would also prefer not to create boatloads of new euros, since it wants to
keep its reputation as an inflation-fighter intact. To mitigate its euro
lending, it borrows dollars to lend them to its banks. That keeps the supply
of new euros down. This lending replaces dollar funding from U.S. banks and
money-market institutions that are curtailing their lending to European
banks—which need the dollars to finance trade, among other activities.
Meanwhile, European governments pressure the banks to purchase still more
sovereign debt.
The Fed's support is in
addition to the ECB's €489 billion ($638 billion) low-interest loans to 523
euro-zone banks last week. And if 2008 is any guide, the dollar swaps will
again balloon to supplement the ECB's euro lending.
This Byzantine financial
arrangement could hardly be better designed to confuse observers, and it has
largely succeeded on this side of the Atlantic, where press coverage has
been light. Reporting in Europe is on the mark. On Dec. 21 the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung noted on its website that European banks took three-month
credits worth $33 billion, which was financed by a swap between the ECB and
the Fed. When it first came out in 2009 that the Greek government was much
more heavily indebted than previously known, currency swaps reportedly
arranged by Goldman Sachs were one subterfuge employed to hide its debts.
The Fed had more than $600
billion of currency swaps on its books in the fall of 2008. Those draws were
largely paid down by January 2010. As recently as a few weeks ago, the
amount under the swap renewal agreement announced last summer was $2.4
billion. For the week ending Dec. 14, however, the amount jumped to $54
billion. For the week ending Dec. 21, the total went up by a little more
than $8 billion. The aforementioned $33 billion three-month loan was not
picked up because it was only booked by the ECB on Dec. 22, falling outside
the Fed's reporting week. Notably, the Bank of Japan drew almost $5 billion
in the most recent week. Could a bailout of Japanese banks be afoot? (All
data come from the Federal Reserve Board H.4.1. release, the New York Fed's
Swap Operations report, and the ECB website.)
No matter the legalistic
interpretation, the Fed is, working through the ECB, bailing out European
banks and, indirectly, spendthrift European governments. It is difficult to
count the number of things wrong with this arrangement.
First,
the Fed has no authority for a bailout of Europe. My source for that
judgment? Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke met with Republican senators on Dec. 14
to brief them on the European situation. After the meeting, Sen. Lindsey
Graham told reporters that Mr. Bernanke himself said the Fed did not have
"the intention or the authority" to bail out Europe. The week Mr. Bernanke
promised no bailout, however, the size of the swap lines to the ECB
ballooned by around $52 billion.
Second, these Federal Reserve swap arrangements foster the moral
hazards and distortions that government credit allocation entails. Allowing
the ECB to do the initial credit allocation—to favored banks and then, some
hope, through further lending to spendthrift EU governments—does not make
the problem better.
Third,
the nontransparency of the swap arrangements is troublesome in a democracy.
To his credit, Mr. Bernanke has promised more openness and better
communication of the Fed's monetary policy goals. The swap arrangements are
at odds with his promise. It is time for the Fed chairman to provide an
honest accounting to Congress of what is going on.
Mr. O'Driscoll, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, was vice president at
the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and later at Citigroup.
–
FM Duck
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02-09-2007
Oink-Oink, Boise City Council Feeds at State & Federal Pig Troughs
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02-08-2007
Big Brother mandates vaccine for 11-year old girls
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01-31-2007
Ada County Commissioners condemn new Ada County Courthouse, then use Eminent
Domain to confiscate their own property...huh?
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01-22-2007
Where in Hell did Our 3 Branches of Government Go?
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01-18-2007
The Real Purpose of the Federal Reserve
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01-17-2007
European Union Dumps German, Officially Adopts English as Universal Language
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01-15-2007
GOP "Intellectuals" Propose Socialist Job Corps Program to Rebuild Iraq
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01-08-2007
Kempthorne Plays "Polar Bear Politics"
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01-02-2007
Boise State outsmarts Oklahoma with Statue of Liberty fake pass, Wins Fiesta
Bowl 43-42 in nail-biting overtime
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12-30-2006
Saddam Hussein
1937-2006
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12-29-2006
Shell Oil hires ex Sec of Interior Gale Norton...
Conflict of interest?
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12-26-2006
"Black box" trading on the Big Board...is it legal...
is it moral?
Part 2
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12-19-2006
"Black box" trading on the Big Board...is it legal...
is it moral?
Part 1
More...
11-30-2006
U of I Wallace pleads guilty to state criminal charges in $136 million
University Place fiasco...no fine and 3-year probation
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11-19-2006
If Idaho "needs" more nurses, let supply and demand in the free market
automatically solve the "problem"
More...
11-17-2006
Boise "needs" a detox center like it "needs" another snort of crack
More...
11-17-2006
If Boise's "Library Blocks" project is unconstitutional, then why isn't the
Courthouse project unconstitutional?
More...
11-01-2006
Bag Boy Wallace Charged
with Felony in U of Idaho Crime Spree...
Major Perps Skate Free?
More...
10-27-2006
2006 Nobel Economist praises
"Dynamic Capitalism" by assuming socialist principles More...
10-20-2006
Voters, not the Idaho Transportation
Board, must approve billion
dollar highway expenditures for "Connecting Idaho" More...
WALL STREET JOURNAL
PHYSICS READERS ARGUE BIG BANG THEORY
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PROP 1: IDAHO TEACHERS'
UNION EARMARKS 1% OF SALES TAX FOR ITSELF
More...
ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE
AMENDMENT UNCONSTITUTIONAL
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DOES UNIVERSITY PLACE'S
SECRET CIVIL SETTLEMENT CONSTITUTE A "BURYING OF PUBLIC INFO?"
More...
WSJ THINKS FUNCTION OF
FED RESERVE IS "MAINTAINING AN OVERALL STABLE PRICE LEVEL"
More...
IDAHO LEADS WORLD IN "FAT
PILL" PRODUCTION
More...
ARE IDAHO'S "RAINY DAY
FUNDS" UNCONSTITUTIONAL?
More...
FEDERALIST PAPERS DO NOT
GRANT WARRANT-LESS SEARCHES OR CARTE BLANCHE WIRE TAPPING TO PRESIDENT
More...
BODO DEVELOPER PROPOSES
BOISE'S WATERGATE METHOD TO RIP DOWN, REBUILD BOISE'S MAIN LIBRARY
More...
IDAHO BAPTISTS LAUNCH
MISSILES AGAINST CALIFORNIA CATHOLICS?
More...
BOISE NEEDS A DRUG CZAR
LIKE IT NEEDS A SNICKER-DOODLE CZAR
More...
BILLIONAIRES WARREN
BUFFET AND BILL GATES FALL ILL TO SOCIALIST PHILOSOPHY
More...
10 REASONS WHY IDAHO
GOVERNOR KEMPTHORNE SHOULD NOT BE CONFIRMED AS SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR
More...
IS IT SIMPLY LA CAGE AUX FOLLES AT THE
KEMPTHORNE CONFIRMATION HEARING OR WILL SOMEBODY ASK A REAL QUESTION?
More...
U.S. CONSTITUTION DECLARED
UNCONSTITUTIONAL... NOT SIGNED BY ITS AUTHORS, OR ANYONE ELSE
More...
IDAHO TEACHERS' UNION PUSHES INITIATIVE FOR
GUARANTEED ANNUAL INCOME BY EARMARKING 1% OF SALES TAX FOR ITSELF
More...
IDAHO SUPREME COURT FLUNKS CIVICS TEST
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UNIVERSITY PLACE PERPS AGREE TO NOT SUE
THEMSELVES...PAY EACH OTHER $8.3 MILLION...CRYPTIC PARTNERS REMAINS AS
POSSIBLE 'FALL GUY' -- PART II
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UNIVERSITY PLACE PERPS AGREE TO NOT SUE
THEMSELVES...PAY EACH OTHER $8.3 MILLION...CRYPTIC PARTNERS REMAINS AS
POSSIBLE 'FALL GUY' -- PART I
More...
JFAC GIVES BLANK CHECK FOR GOVERNOR
KEMPTHORNE'S HIGHWAY ROBBERY
More...
BOISE'S WATERGATE GOES TO
WASHINGTON...GOVERNOR KEMPTHORNE NOMINATED AS SECRETARY OF INTERIOR
More...
IS IDAHO'S $3 BILLION
GARVEE HIGHWAY DEBT UNCONSTITUTIONAL? More...
WHY IDAHO'S ANTI-GAY
MARRIAGE AMENDMENT IS PRETENDED LAW -- PART II
More...
WHY IDAHO'S ANTI-GAY
MARRIAGE AMENDMENT IS PRETENDED LAW -- PART I
More...
WHY WE DON'T NEED
PROPERTY TAXES -- PART II More...
WHY WE DON'T NEED
PROPERTY TAXES -- PART I More...
BOISE RESIDENTS PAY 10-12
TIMES AS MUCH IN "M & O" SCHOOL PROPERTY TAXES AS MERIDIAN FOR SAME NUMBER
OF STUDENTS More...
SHOULD IDAHO ABOLISH
PROPERTY TAXES AND IMPLEMENT A FLAT SALES TAX?
More...
WHY WE DON'T NEED FEMA OR
BOISE'S "BLUEPRINT FOR GOOD GROWTH
More...
DID JAPANESE MAFIA STEER
HURRICANE KATRINA DOWN BOURBON STREET FOR FUN AND PROFIT...OR REVENGE?
More...
GOV KEMPTHORNE IS NOT OUR
"CEO" More...
EAST PARK CENTER BRIDGE
IS A JOKE More...
WILL "BLUEPRINT FOR GOOD
GROWTH" MORPH INTO BOISE TROLLY GATE?
More...
BIRTH: NATURE'S
TRANSFER OF PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS
More...
WHOSE COLLECTIVE RIGHTS?
More...
IS MICRON WHINING FOR
CORPORATE WELFARE OR DEMANDING FREE MARKET CAPITALISM?
More...
CATHOLICISM IN LATIN
AMERICA MORPHS INTO SOCIALISM
More...
OIL COMPANIES TURN EARTH INTO GIANT CO2
SODA POP BOTTLES
More...
SEX IS ILLEGAL IN IDAHO?
More...
IN DEFENSE OF THE WOMAN
More...
AMERICA'S INTELLECTUAL
HIERARCHY
More...
EATS, SHOOTS & LEAVES More...
ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE:
THE STATE VS. THE INDIVIDUAL More...
TAX RATES ARE NOT THE SAME AS TAX BURDENS
More...
DEFICIT FARMING
More...
IRS AUDIT MICKEY MOUSE,
FILES CRIMINAL CHARGES
More...
PHILOSOPHY RULES, SCIENCE DROOLS
More...
NEW ENERGY SOURCE DISCOVERED IN
WASHINGTON DC
OIL STOCKS PLUNGE More...
STATUE OF LIBERTY SHOE SIZE,
WOMEN'S 879
More...
U.S. PRISON POPULATION SOARS,
TOOTHBRUSH INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX PROSPERS
More...
Church and State:
GRAND INQUISITOR VISITS AUSCHWITZ
More...
KING TUT GRANTS CEASE FIRE FOR DECEMBER HOLY MONTH
INTERMISSION ALLOWS BOTH ARMIES TO ORDER FAST FOOD
More...
FED
NATIONALIZES CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM CONES
KIDS CAN'T LICK CONES ON CHURCH PROPERTY
More...
RELIGIOUS DISCOVERY: MUHAMMAD BORN IN SHANGHAI
MID EAST WAR SHIFTS TO CHINA
More...
FATHER FLANAGAN RAPES 25,000
CHILDREN OVER 30-YEAR SPAN, CLAIMS AMNESIA
More...
School and State:
SANTA 'CLAUSE' SHOWS UP TO SAVE FLORIDA'S TEACHERS' UNION
More...
ETHNOMATHEMATICS
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WHY JOHNNY CAN'T READ
More...
EVOLUTION OF MATH INSTRUCTION IN CALIFORNIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS
More...
O’CONNOR REAFFIRMS Step ‘n Fetch it IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
More...
STUDENT WINS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE; SPELLS “CHRISTMAS” WITH
AN ‘X’
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STATE GROCERY STORES
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PRO-CHOICE FREE MARKET SCHOOLS
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EDUCATION TAXES
More...
Health and State:
12-31-2005
Does surgery for cancer cause more
cancer?
More...
FAT IDAHO
More...
IDAHO'S LOOMING FAKE
HEALTH CARE "CRISIS"
More...
WHEN GOOD CELLS GO BAD
More...
PRO-CHOICE CANCER
TREATMENT
More...
Money and the Federal Reserve:
THE FUZZY MATH OF U.S. COINAGE
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