Ben Bernanke

Many supporters agree that regulation would have prevented the financial sector from borrowing way more money than they had to in order to cover their loses. For example, many supporters agree that regulation would have prevented Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke from asking Congress to give him $700 billion dollars to bail out the banks for their risky investments. In addition to that, many supporters of regulation claim that regulation would have prevented the usage of CDS (Credit Default Swaps) that…

Quantitative Easing, as defined by Investopia, is an unconventional monetary policy in which a central bank purchases government securities or other securities from the market in order to lower interest rates and increase money supply. In short, in times when standard monetary policy has become useless, this is used by central banks to help stimulate the economy. Quantitative easing is used when short-term interest rates are close to that of zero, and no new money is needed to be printed in the…

The mortgage crisis had always left many Americans unhappy and confused. They had felt cheated by the banks, whom they blamed for their decline in house values. They had also felt scared, as the entire financial sector was much too large and complicated for them to fully understand, and they had families to worry about. Like the average American, many scholars and economists today still are not completely sure about how the crisis occurred. There are many varying theories, some pointing at…

causes that lead up to the crash of the stock market. The Great Depression was the largest low point that U.S economy and the worlds economy have ever seen. This time in history had the highest number of unemployed ever seen in the United States. Ben Bernanke said in 2002 that the Great Depression was the “worst economic disaster in American history”. The Depression wasn’t just cause by the stock market crash of 1929. During the 1920’s or the Roaring 20s’ loaning and borrowing money on…

Similar kinds of backdoor derivatives deals resulted in some U.S. cities and counties filing for bankruptcy as well. In 2011, Jefferson County, Alabama entered into the largest municipal bankruptcy at that time with $4 billion in debt. Remember the example with the treasurer of Orange County, CA who relied upon psychic advisors? In that instance, Merrill Lynch representatives roped him in with a derivatives contract. On the other hand, JPMorgan Chase took the ethical high road by refusing to…

The Stock Market crash of 2008 On September 29, 2008 the (Dow Jones Industrial Average) Dow dropped 778 points which is the largest single day point loss in history. This point loss was because the Senate voted against the bailout bill. In this essay I will explain to you the events that lead to this economic collapse. In 2007 the over-heated housing market started to slow down. Despite this slow down the market rose steadily throughout the year, which is surprising since there were signals…

The 2008 Recession was an influential economic downturn that had overreaching consequences. Chapters 7-17 of Peter Schiff’s How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes provided a more objective view of a recession. The events of HBO’s Too Big to Fail was more focused on the government’s take on the recession and the measures it took to find a solution. The content provided by the book and movie regarding the housing bubble concurred, but the differed in the assessment of the government’s solutions…

Where does a U.S. dollar come from? Almost everyone uses and values money but so few know the answer to this question. Who determines how many dollars there are in circulation? The answer to this question, that has great impact on the economy and prices of everyday goods, is not well known amongst American citizens. The United States Treasury prints the dollar. The Federal Reserve System is responsible for regulating and controlling the supply of legal tender, which are Federal Reserve notes, in…

Case: The U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen does not increase interest rates. At the beginning of the semester the class had an assignment which was to look up Janet Yellen’s who is chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System announcement on whether or not she was going to keep the policy interest rates unchanged. She had decided then, not to change the policy interest rates because she feared risks of worst economic stand for the United States if there were any changes done at…

Stock Market From Inside Job, a documentary about the lead up to the stock market crash of 2008, Christine Lagarde said “The financial industry is a service industry. It should serve others before it serves itself.” The year 2008 was a huge scare for the common man in the United States. When the housing market crashed, everyone saw their lives change before their eyes and feared for their future. Stocks went down faster than the speed of light and with time of change heading towards the United…