Former NY Fed President Says the Fed’s Balance Sheet Shrunk Too Much in 2019

Balance Sheet Shrunk Too Much in 2019?!

Please consider the above video interview.

Dudley: Fed will taper its balance sheet reduction the deeper we get in the process. The Fed will stop before we get to that critical point.

Lou Dobbs: Have you done an experiment that says this is going to work or are you flying blind?

Dudley: I think you did the experiment last time following the great financial crisis. The Fed shrunk its balance sheet and we had that experience in 2019 where they shrank it a little too much.  The Fed will learn from that episode. If rates spiked up too much, banks would turn to to the Fed’s standing repo facility. This time the Fed has a belt and suspenders.

Belts and Suspenders

Not to worry, the Fed has belts and suspenders that it can increase at any time. 

Importantly, the Fed conduct QE and QT simultaneously if need be.

What a Hoot!

First it’s an admission the Fed’s QE policy was experimental and flying blind. 

Second, Dudley complains that tiny shrinkage was too much and the Fed will learn by not doing too much QT.

Third, Dudley is saying that QE will never be fully reversed. And if anything fails the Fed has plenty of belts and suspenders.

A Word About Credibility 

For more on the Fed’s credibility problem, please see The Fed Will Hike to 4 Percent Come Hell or High Water

This post originated at MishTalk.Com.

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david halte
david halte
1 year ago
The Fed believes jawboning from past members deflects their current culpability for the incompetence.
The Fed fashions Bill Dudley as sock puppet for their pronouncements, by the same demeanor the Fed now conducts Richard Clarida. Under accusations of insider trading, Clarida announced his early resignation weeks before his term was to expire, which the Fed’s ‘internal’ investigation cleared him of corruption.
In 2017, Bill Dudley announced his early resignation as New York Fed President by mid-2018, his term expired January 2019. Dudley joined a series of Fed members seeking early retirement in 2017. Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, resigned October 2017, his term expired June 2018. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, resigned April 2017, his term expired October 2017. An explanation was given for only one of the resignations; Jeffery Lacker had disclosed confidential FOMC information to an outside hedge fund.
Maximus_Minimus
Maximus_Minimus
1 year ago
The Fed will learn from that episode. If rates spiked up too much, banks would turn to to the Fed’s standing repo facility. This time the Fed has a belt and suspenders.”
Does the belt and suspender mean that the banking rules have been rewritten, and at the slightest hickup e.g. one failing major bank, and it’s full speed printing?
vanderlyn
vanderlyn
1 year ago
probably depends if the bank is a member in good standing. Bear Stearns was tossed under the bus because in 1998 LTCM bailout they refused to participate. the FED is like a yacht club. if you don’t pay your dues and get along with other sailors, you get tossed out. same goes for NYSE. i know an old man in my youth that was tossed as member of NYSE. a specialist for IBM to boot. everyone hated him. so out on the street he went. we vandalized his house and terrorized him, as he was the meanest man in our hood. a much too young nut job retired. my folks pitied him, but i was a normal teen ager in 70s and had to get even on his insane taunting of us when we were little kids walking past his house………….sorry for the autobiography but it’s all connected. FED is a yacht club.. and has only one JOB. to think they are dumb, misses the reality of the game of MONEY in 2022 and past century.
Taunton
Taunton
1 year ago
Reply to  vanderlyn
Glad you noticed that the two banks allowed to fail in 2008, were Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the two banks who refused to participate in the LTCM bailout. The Fed works based on politics not economics
worleyeoe
worleyeoe
1 year ago
I think the total QT was about $500B last time. That amount being too much is ludicrous! So now, we have to figure out how to deal with ever increasing US national debt and having the same thing happen with the Fed’s balance sheet. I bet he thinks the Fed buying up 60% of all US backed mortgages to the tune of $2.7T was a great idea too.
StukiMoi
StukiMoi
1 year ago
“Former NY Fed President Says the Fed’s Balance Sheet Shrunk Too Much in 2019”
Given the correct Fed Balance Sheet is 0, that’s exactly as 100% dead wrong as everything else any of the clowns over there has ever said or done. At least they are consistent……
Doug78
Doug78
1 year ago
“Importantly, the Fed conduct QE and QT simultaneously if need be.”
Yes that is the most important statement you have made in this post. I suppose you could call it fine tuning the monetary policy selectively stimulating some and repressing others at the same time.
StukiMoi
StukiMoi
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
Stimulating the idle and useless connected, repressing the productive.
The story; the only one in fact; of all central banking since the beginning.
BlauGloriole
BlauGloriole
1 year ago
Reply to  Doug78
Classical QE was mainly converting longer dated securities to shorter dated securities. QT is doing the reverse so net net a nothing burger if done together. QE alone as described above results in asset inflation. QT alone as described above just removes liquidity and as Hussman has long shown does nothing to short term rates even if the Fed’s B/S were immediately halved. Fiscal spending where the monies are distributed to weak hands (retail) rapidly results in inflation especially in a self-inflicted supply constrainted world. Raising the cost of money is where the real economy starts hurting, response time is much shorter than most believe. As Mish suspects we are probably already in recessionary territory. Best.
PapaDave
PapaDave
1 year ago
Okay. I get it. The Fed sucks.
Now what?
What are you going to do about it?
I see two choices.
1. Complain for the rest of your life
Or
2. Accept that the Fed exist and sucks; and then invest accordingly
MPO45
MPO45
1 year ago
Reply to  PapaDave
But you gotta read between the lines. Here let me help you.
1. Why is a former NY Fed concerned or bothering mentioning the balance sheet?
2. Why is there need for a “belt and suspenders” toolkit?
3. Why are we discussing any of this unless someone somewhere is already forecasting problems?
I suggest you review what happened in 2008…
The investment opportunities, IMHO, are going to be shorting/buying puts on companies that will go under. I’ve already compiled a nice list of companies that won’t be able to roll their high debt. i’d post them here but I am practicing “quiet profiting” for the most part but here is how you can find them.
1. Go over to CapitolTrades website and look at what the politicians are selling.
2. Go over to InsiderMonkey website and look at which company insiders are selling.
3. Go over to Finance Yahoo equity screener and find out which stocks are the most shorted.
4. On Friday there was a rally, go to Finace.Yahoo.com and find out which companies were the biggest losers (decliners) during a rally, this means they are probably turds. Do that during every rally and see if the same stocks keep showing up.
If you find matching companies in 1, 2, 3, 4 then you’ve struck shorting gold!
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
1 year ago
Reply to  MPO45
In other words, picking a short takes as much, or more due diligence as long… A rising tide lifts all boats. A falling tide… there’s a higher chance of running aground.
Salmo Trutta
Salmo Trutta
1 year ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
See: Daneric’s Elliott Waves – Elliott Wave Theory, Technical Analysis, and Social Mood Commentary (danericselliottwaves.org)
PapaDave
PapaDave
1 year ago
Reply to  MPO45
Lol! Quiet profiting! You should coin that. I love it!
I do like your strategy. And your methodology. And the fact that you are one of the rare people here who give actionable advice.
Most of the people who comment here are useless. A bunch of whiners, complainers and crybabies.
As I mentioned earlier, I am slowly selling stocks and raising cash. Might even sell some of the oils to rationalize my positions a bit. The funny thing is that they are still very undervalued.
My thinking is that it is going to be a very tough winter in Europe and that is going to affect most markets. Energy prices could spike again and markets could tank.
worleyeoe
worleyeoe
1 year ago
Reply to  PapaDave
Most like myself aren’t here to dispense investing advice, but I don’t consider myself a crybaby. I would rather say I’m here to make predictions as a layman. Then down the road I’m either vindicated or look like the other morons, including those supposed gurus. Certainly, a fossil fuels crunch this winter could be the basis for a black swan event that causes a solid 30% drop in markets over the course of 3 months or so.
PapaDave
PapaDave
1 year ago
Reply to  worleyeoe
I don’t see you complaining. Not everyone here is a crybaby. But there are a lot of them. Thank goodness for the IGNORE button.
You’re right. Its going to be an interesting winter.
MPO45
MPO45
1 year ago
Reply to  PapaDave
“Quit Profiting™”
There done! I’m gonna make a nickel every time somebody says Quit Profiting™!
PapaDave
PapaDave
1 year ago
Reply to  MPO45
Lol. I thought it was Quiet Profiting!
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  PapaDave
Over the past half-century or so, when things begin to look seriously dicey the shrewd folks I have known invariably turn to more cash.
Salmo Trutta
Salmo Trutta
1 year ago
Reply to  MPO45
See: The Reserve Gap – Fed Guy
He has some solutions to upcoming balance sheet problems.
See also: The “How and When” of the Fed’s Balance Sheet Runoff | by New York Fed | New York Fed | Sep, 2022 | Medium
Salmo Trutta
Salmo Trutta
1 year ago
Reply to  MPO45
Bankrupt-U-Bernanke drained legal reserves for 29 contiguous months (proxy for inflation), turning safe assets into impaired assets, the most contractionary money policy since the GD. And we knew in advance, the precise “Minskey
Moment” of the GFC:

POSTED: Dec 13 2007 06:55 PM |

The Commerce Department said retail sales in Oct 2007
increased by 1.2% over Oct 2006, & up a huge 6.3% from Nov 2006.

10/1/2007,,,,,,,-0.47 * temporary bottom
11/1/2007,,,,,,, 0.14
12/1/2007,,,,,,, 0.44
01/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.59
02/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.45
03/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.06
04/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.04
05/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.09
06/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.20
07/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.32 peak
08/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.15
09/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.00
10/1/2008,,,,,, -0.20 * possible recession
11/1/2008,,,,,, -0.10 * possible recession
12/1/2008,,,,,,, 0.10 * possible recession

RoC trajectory as predicted. Nothing has changed in > 100
+ years

vanderlyn
vanderlyn
1 year ago
Reply to  PapaDave
right on. folks who think FED is dumb don’t get they have been HAD. makes no difference if they have a blog or own a hedge fund………………the FED exists for one purpose and only one purpose. if you don’t start with this premise for every word uttered about the FED, you have been HAD. i had the luxury of walking past the FED RES bank of NY for decades and always knew why they had built a fortress and what they actually did. i regret they don’t give the tours, anymore, of the very below sea level Gold vaults below. i wanted to go again, now that i’m back in the big apple after a lifetime away.
8dots
8dots
1 year ago
If u are afraid that SS will not be there for u, or be manipulated and deflated, don’t wait until age 70, grab as early as u can, after next year
COLA ==> cumulative 60-96 months payments might be worth the risk, against experts bs : 60M x$2K = $120K // 96M x $2K = $192K.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  8dots
Retiring at 62 or after 70 you receive exactly the same amount of money based on how long the Government thinks you are going to live. By waiting to start collecting you are betting against the Government, rarely a good long-term play. Math is very hard for some folks. Of course, when you die before you collect anything the Government wins bigly.
8dots
8dots
1 year ago
Unemployment rate, up from 3.5% to 3.7% isn’t good enough for the Fed. Claudia Zahm should start from zero, not from
minus (-) 0.40, the lowest in the last 70 years. We don’t know what will happen next. To keep things simple :
SPX monthly osc between BB #6 : Jan 2021 hi/lo and BB # 7 : Sept 2021 hi/lo. SPX reached DM #8. There was no trigger under June 2022 low, a
setup bar. There was no close above the setup bar. After one more attempt the market might give up and move to the space between BB #6 : Jan 2021 hi/lo and BB #5 : Jan 2020 hi/lo, before moving up…. for fun and entertainment only.
RonJ
RonJ
1 year ago
“Former NY Fed President Says the Fed’s Balance Sheet Shrunk Too Much in 2019”
It’s a Comedy Store routine.
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
1 year ago
Reply to  RonJ
After reading Claudia Sahm’s Twitter feed, it is more like grade-school kids at recess.
MPO45
MPO45
1 year ago
Community bankers no happy. Fed make sad.
Captain Ahab
Captain Ahab
1 year ago
When every advisor to the Fed is a Keynesian, you have Keynes on steroids.
Quotes banned at the Fed:
Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently. (Ford, Henry)
Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change. (Hawking)
If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn’t thinking. (Patton)
Common sense is not so common. (Voltaire)
worleyeoe
worleyeoe
1 year ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
Personally, I think JPowell has Stephanie Kelton on speed dial.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  Captain Ahab
“My brain hurts!” (Mr. Gumby)
Avery
Avery
1 year ago
Did the overnight Repo markets have failures / require Fed bailouts 4Qs 2018 and 2019 or not?
Are the limitations of bank customer’s cash withdrawals due to concerns about (let’s start about 40 years ago): The Mob, drug-dealers, tax cheats, terrorists, MAGA preppers – or bank failure potential?
Was Cov- / lockdown / $trillions going to the ‘right people’ a stealth bailout, with the lockdown part slowing the velocity of $ for the muppets?
2020 summer riots a distraction / smoke screen?
Never had so many politicians, media, corps and institutions been on the same page, same mantra: “After all, we’re all this together!”
Six000mileyear
Six000mileyear
1 year ago
The Fed’s balance sheet has turned into a metric of moral hazard.
StukiMoi
StukiMoi
1 year ago
Reply to  Six000mileyear
There has never been any “turned” about it.
Moral hazard, aka bailing out connected idiots, with loot crassly stolen from more competent people, was and is the sole and only reason central banking was invented in the first place. They never had any other purpose. Anything else they mat have claimed to be about over the years, is just a sales pitch offered to fool the less-than-bright easily fooled.
Salmo Trutta
Salmo Trutta
1 year ago
The FED’s Ph.Ds. don’t get it. Banks don’t lend deposits. Deposits are the result of lending. The only way to activate monetary savings is thru a nonbank, or the nonbank public. So, while the nonbanks are not in competition with the banks (savers never transfer their savings outside the banks), the banks can outbid the nonbanks for loan funds resulting in disintermediation (a term that only applies to the nonbanks since the Banking Act of 1933). The Sept. 2019 repo spike resulted in an interest rate inversion, where the remuneration rate was higher than nonbank short-term wholesale funding rates.
Mish
Mish
1 year ago
Reply to  Salmo Trutta
Correct
Banks do not lend deposits
Salmo Trutta
Salmo Trutta
1 year ago
Reply to  Mish

All monetary
savings originate within the banking system. The source of saved deposits is demand deposits, directly or indirectly
via the currency route (never more than a short-term seasonal situation), or
thru the banks undivided profits accounts. Since time deposits (income
held beyond the income period in which received), a component of M2, originate
within the banking system (and there is a one-to-one relationship between time
and demand deposits — an increase in TDs depletes DDs by an equivalent
amount), there cannot be an “inflow” of time/savings deposits and the growth of
time/savings deposits cannot, per se, increase the size of the banking system.

From a system standpoint, TDs constitute an alteration of bank liabilities,
their growth does not per se add to the “footings” of the consolidated balance
sheet for the system.

vanderlyn
vanderlyn
1 year ago
Reply to  Salmo Trutta
why would banks lend deposits when they have the discount window access. free money is hard to beat. might as well call the federal reserve, federal express. or let amazon have discount window access and give them free money, too.
RedQueenRace
RedQueenRace
1 year ago
Reply to  vanderlyn
Borrowings from the Discount Window are not free. Collateral must be posted (and it is discounted) and the banks pay interest on borrowings.
These are the current borrowing rates:
Notice that ALL DW borrowing rates are at or above the target Fed Funds Rate, which is where banks typically borrow reserves when needed.
vanderlyn
vanderlyn
1 year ago
Reply to  RedQueenRace
when the banks were bankrupt in 2007/2008, they were PAYED interest to “borrow” the money. go read the “audit” that ron paul and bernie sanders demanded. 17 trillion dollars of free money and better than free money(payed to borrow) to save the banks, hedge funds in US and EU. by the NYFED.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  vanderlyn
It is a great system. We force you to take a large amount of money that you are not allowed to lend, and then we pay you interest on the money. No one can ever say America is not innovative.
vanderlyn
vanderlyn
1 year ago
Reply to  RedQueenRace
in reality the bankers posted junk when they were in trouble, and the FEDRESNY “lent” for free quality paper. it was a great scam. the opposite of a pawn shop operator. the bankers were bailed out with better than free money, and the 99.99% are paying for it with debauched currency. the benjamin in your wallet is worth half the purchasing power in food clothing shelter and hookers and blow than it was 15 years ago. at best. you have been HAD old sport.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  vanderlyn
Food clothing shelter have inflated tremendously, hookers and blow not so much.
But then the Government doesn’t regulate the hookers and blow businesses.
Lisa_Hooker
Lisa_Hooker
1 year ago
Reply to  vanderlyn
In a true Democratcy (note capital D) everyone should have free money.

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