Stock market rally amid COVID-19 creates ‘distorted economy’
Category: Federal Reserve
Senator Menendez: “3.3 Million Small Businesses Have Closed” and “1.1 Million Local and State Employees Have Lost their Jobs” as a Result of Pandemic
Trump Issued an Executive Memorandum Giving Mnuchin a $50 Billion Slush Fund; Mnuchin Gave Himself $386 Billion More
Five days before Congress passed the CARES Act on March 25 of this year, President Donald Trump issued an Executive Memorandum giving U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin complete discretion to use $50 billion in the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund (ESF) as Mnuchin solely saw fit. The Memorandum was dated Friday, March 20. On the prior Tuesday and Wednesday of that same week, Mnuchin had already used $20 billion of the Exchange Stabilization Fund to bail out Wall Street. As Mnuchin’s letter of November 19 to Fed Chair Jerome Powell confirms, he gave (or committed) $10 billion from the ESF to the Fed’s Commercial Paper Funding Facility on March 17 and another $10 billion to another Fed emergency lending program, the Money Market Mutual Fund Liquidity Facility, on March 18.
75% of the $454 Billion CARES Act Money Never Went to the Fed; It Was Invested by a Mnuchin Slush Fund Called the ESF
Senator Sherrod Brown Calls for Breaking Up the Wall Street Banks; Elizabeth Warren Tells Fed: “I Don’t Believe You’re Doing Your Job”
Senator Jon Tester of Montana got into a heated debate with Randal Quarles, the Vice Chairman for Supervision at the Federal Reserve. Although both the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, as well as Quarles, have previously stated that another round of fiscal stimulus is needed from Congress, Quarles now seems to have been intimidated by some Republicans in Congress who don’t want another stimulus package. Quarles, during the hearing, refused to endorse another stimulus package.
Citigroup Is Slapped with a $400 Million Fine for Doing Something So Bad It Can’t Be Spoken Out Loud
Fed Chair Powell calls for more help from Congress, says there’s a low risk of ‘overdoing it’
Inflation Is Already Here—For the Stuff You Actually Want to Buy
Inflation Is Already Here—For the Stuff You Actually Want to Buy
The pandemic provided inflationary pressure by restricting supply, so when demand rose—for example, for eating out as the lockdown eased—prices rose sharply. And because Covid-19 has intensified the U.S.-China trade war and the trend toward deglobalization, supply could be constrained for a long time.
The pandemic also creates deflationary pressure, hitting demand as people socially distance, leading to job losses and corporate cutbacks.
Senator Sinema Tells Mnuchin and Powell She Lived in an Abandoned Gas Station as a Child; Asks What they Plan to Do About Wave of Coming Evictions
No matter how one attempts to spin the economic reality of this crisis, Wall Street, once again, got bailed out while the average American continues to get sold out.
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 
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