By Bill Wilson — $54.9 billion. That is how much the Federal Reserve holds in capital to back up its $3.1 trillion balance sheet — a ratio of just 1.8 percent. That’s a pretty small margin for error, especially if the central bank were to ever take any losses on its […]

By Bill Wilson — 41 percent. That was all the Euro establishment in Italy could get to vote in favor of ceding sovereignty to the European Union in that country’s latest parliamentary elections . The elections came after former Prime Minister Mario Monti stepped aside after his unpopular budget was adopted. The […]

NRD Editor’s Note: This column was originally published at Forbes.com. By Bill Wilson — In a city known for its perpetual evasion of responsibility and chronic shifting of blame, Washington D.C.’s sequester debate is more of the same — albeit with an interesting twist. Ordinarily spending debates in our […]

This is kind of funny. But really scary. On Treasury’s “debt subject to the limit page,” you can see where in time the debt ceiling was eliminated/suspended. For reference, under the most recent debt deal, the debt ceiling has been suspended until May 19. Our […]

By Rick Manning — Here is what Iowa Democrat Sen. Tom Harkin said on Valentine’s Day making one wonder if Cupid’s arrow sapped him of his senses. SEN. TOM HARKIN (D-IA): “Thank you, Madam Chair. I think, first of all, I want to disagree with those who […]

By Rick Manning — Tonight President Barack Obama is expected to declare that the job of debt reduction is almost done in State of the Union speech.  Combined with his campaign arm, slyly called Campaign for America’s Future, sending an email alert out with the subject line, […]

By Bill Wilson — A little discussed impact of sequestration, due to take effect on March 1, is the fact that after 2014, spending will increase every single year in both defense and non-defense categories, reports the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). In addition, there are real spending cuts, but they come nowhere […]

By Robert Romano — Why does the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) include government spending as a component of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? The answer may be that’s how economist Simon Kuznets, who developed the measure, saw things. In his 1934 report “Report on National Income” to Congress , he acknowledged there might be skepticism over […]

By Bill Wilson — David Kemper, Chairman and CEO of Commerce Bancshares, had to be kidding. He couldn’t have possibly been serious, when in a BloombergBusinessweek opinion piece, “QE Cubed: A Modest Proposal for More Fed Buying. A Lot More,” he suggested that the Federal Reserve expand its balance sheet by $30 trillion. The proposal, if real, would entail […]

By Rick Manning — One of the advantages of living in the Washington, D.C. area is that occasionally you are privy to conversations by decision makers or news broadcasters which cast a light on how these elites are thinking. I had the good fortune to overhear one […]