U.S. Debt Holdings of Foreign Central Banks Continue to Grow – by Asha Bangalore – … During the week ended March 17, foreign central banks held $3.00 trillion at the Federal Reserve. Of this, roughly 75% of it is held in the form of Treasury securities and the remaining 25% is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities. …, holdings of U.S. Treasury securities has grown at close to 25% on a year-to-year basis (see chart 1) in the past few weeks. … – Northern Trust
————
Ferris Geithner’s Day Off – by Gary North – … think of Timothy Geithner as a valet in some downtown parking lot. You drive your car to the little booth. You hand him the keys to your car. He says he will park it for you. … When I think of Tim Geithner, I think of the valet in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. It’s joy ride time! He climbs into the car, and his buddy leaps in beside him. Off they go! The buddy, of course, is Ben Bernanke. … – Lew Rockwell.com
————
This is major – Bernanke and Fed to Eliminate Reserve Requirements? – Paco Ahlgren – Let’s be clear about what this means: … Now we are up to our eyeballs in debt — levels never before seen in history, … Banks — encouraged by the government — lent trillions of dollars to people who couldn’t afford to buy homes. A bubble formed because of artificial demand created by the government. Now this same government, in an attempt to stimulate lending (again), is encouraging banks to leverage themselves 100%. The absurdity is stupefying. I’m absolutely floored that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve actually proposed ending fractional reserve banking. We have entered a new era, indeed… – The Bottom Violation
————
If You Liked Fannie and Freddie… – … You’ll love Chris Dodd’s latest reform proposal. It would make many more companies too big to fail and lead to far greater financial consolidation. – BY PETER J. WALLISON - WSJ Opinion
————
U.S. tells China yuan issue is of "real concern" - Reuters – (Are we being fools Lecturing China or not – love to hear your opinion – BC)
————
recipe for success? – SLM Sells Debt at Higher Rate Than Students Pay: Credit Markets – By Tim Catts and Sarah Mulholland – … Sallie Mae, as the company is known, sold $1.5 billion of 8 percent notes due in 2020 at a yield of 8.25 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Stafford federal loans disbursed between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, have a fixed interest rate (cost) of 5.6 percent, according to the company’s Web site. … – Bloomberg BusinesWeek
————
Small banks lag in repaying Treasury for bailout funds – By Binyamin Appelbaum and David Cho – … But hundreds of community banks have yet to return their bailouts. More than 10 percent of the 700 banks that got federal bailouts and are still holding the money even failed to pay the government a quarterly dividend in February. … – Washington Post
————
TARP is expected to cost $109 billion, CBO says – A report from the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the government’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program will actually cost about $109 billion during its lifetime. The projection is $10 billion more than the agency’s estimate in January. – CNN Money
————
U.S. Likely To Keep Backing GSE Debt, Says Bernanke – Emii.com ( they have to – that’s obvious – BC)