Tag: monetary policy
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How Does the Fed Manage Inflation?
Cycles of inflation and its opposite number deflation have been part of the American financial landscape for well over a century. While some of these cycles are affected by outside events such as wartime, what many consumers don’t know is that our very own central bank, the Federal Reserve, plays a very active role in…
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Inflation Rate Models Make a Difference
Inflation is a word that strikes dread into the hearts of American consumers, who know that when it’s headed their way, their hard earned dollars will buy less. But different models of measuring inflation can make a big difference in how scary those numbers can be. Inflation and its opposite number deflation have been around…
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What’s Behind the World’s Debt Crisis?
On one spring day in late April 2014, the world’s debt clock checked in at a staggering $60, 656, 668, 640,014. That number changes by the minute, as do the totals for interest accrued – over $1,000 every minute. The world is deep in debt – and becoming more indebted every minute, with no end…
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The Wizard of Oz: An Economic Fairy Tale?
And all along, you thought The Wizard of Oz was a delightful children’s adventure, brought to life on the big screen in that famous movie starring Judy Garland. But in the years since the movie put the beloved L Frank Baum story into the cultural fabric of American life, a variety of scholars, historians and…
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Who’s Winning the Currency Wars?
It sounds like the plot of a bad science fiction movie. A mysterious, invisible war is going on behind the scenes of the world’s major banks, with cutthroat brinkmanship and dirty strategies to get the upper hand in the global currency markets. It’s not the plot of a grade B flick, but by many accounts,…
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Bond Rates Plunge – But Where’s the Crisis?
Ever since the financial collapse and recession of a few years ago, financial experts have been watching the sky or signs of falling. They’ve scrutinized the behavior o US assets at home and on the world stage for sings of another collapse and recession. Currently topping the list of assets to worry about: the plunging…
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Looking Ahead: Another Financial Crisis?
As the US economy regains its feet after the massive financial collapse of 2008, economists are turning their gaze to the future: what will trigger the next major economic crisis – not just for the US, but also for the global economy as a whole? And a bigger question: can it be prevented? To answer…
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A Cash Free Society? Sweden Leads the Way
Hard metal in the hand or virtual numbers on a card, money is what people agree that it is. And now, as Sweden moves quietly toward a cash-free society, the very nature of money – and what it means – could be forever changed. Sweden has long been in the vanguard of cultural shifts. Its…
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US Dollar Rides High in World Markets
After the roller coaster ride of recent recession years, the US dollar is on top again – at least for now. And its strong showing against other world currencies may be due to the Federal Reserve’s much-maligned Quantitative Easing plan. According to a recent Business Insider article on the performance of the dollar and other…
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International Conflict Hits Americans In the Wallet
It’s a small, small world, as the old song goes. And that’s increasingly obvious as events across the globe have the power to hit Americans hard at home. In a world that’s ever more connected, global conflicts can quickly become local ones, with consequences for the US dollar, energy reserves and consumer goods, and the…