Federal Reserve

Rate Hike

The Federal Reserve has been telegraphing to markets that they are going to raise the fed funds rate by 25 basis points next month at its December Fed Meeting. The financial markets think they are serious this time and have been pricing in this 25 basis point rate hike for the past 6 weeks. The real question is that since the Fed has told us that they are Data Dependent for the past 7 years regarding changes to monetary policy, what has really changed in the economic data for the positive? Why now of all times do they decide to raise rates? Are they raising rates for the right reasons? These are just some of our concerns as the Federal Reserve embarks upon their final FOMC Meeting on December 16^th 2015.

John Williams

It is hilarious watching Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President John Williams flip flop on rate hikes faster than a politician on an issue after a new poll comes out. It has become obvious that this Fed member has no views of his own regarding monetary policy, he is basically Janet Yellen`s mouth piece, and is not an independent Fed member. If one just reads his statements over the course of 2015 regarding possible rate hikes, with an economy that hasn`t dramatically changed much in 2015, one would demand immediate and supervised drug tests on a monthly basis. Maybe I am being too hard on this guy, and that he has a difficult job of navigating Fed Policy politics, but he sure is coming across as an incompetent and unqualified board member that adds no real value to the committee.

Neel Kashkari

Any maybe that is why Neel Kashkari, has been chosen as head of the Federal Reserve’s regional bank in Minneapolis to make everyone else appear more qualified in comparison. I am not sure why this Fed move hasn`t garnered more attention by the mainstream financial media, but what has Neel Kashkari ever done that makes him qualified to be a Federal Reserve Board member? And yes it is too easy a cynical softball setup for the peanut gallery to shout out “He worked at Goldman Sachs!” here. But he has accomplished very little in the Hedge Fund community, Investment Banking, his small time as a Portfolio manager at PIMCO, he made an unsuccessful run for governor of California in 2014, and was an unsuccessful aerospace engineer at TRW Corp. So unsuccessful in fact at TRW Corporation that he went to Wharton to get his MBA to reinvent himself at Goldman Sachs.