Marketplace Off Air
I.O.U.
Three little letters. But so important.
As we’ve been talking about a lot on the program, the credit markets are still unvelievably tight, even after the bailout bill, especially the short-term credit markets.
A lot of the day-to-day grease that businesses use to keep the economy going depends on something called commercial paper — basically, short-term I.O.U.’s they issue (often to one another) to get overnight cash.
Some of that paper is secured — backed by tangible assets — so lenders can have some faith they’ll get repaid one way or another.
Some of it isn’t, which is why I’m talking about this so early in the morning.
The Fed is talking about buying up some of that unsecured paper.
That is, investing directly in businesses.
That’s a big deal.
More later on Marketplace this afternoon.
- October 7, 2008 — Kai Ryssdal
- 2 comments
Latest Posts
- Keeping your gig
- Devastating job losses
- Going Down Under
- Oil skids
- Preventing foreclosure
- Highland Fling
- Fewer jobs, fewer buyers
- Paulson's new plan
- Dubai Eight Months Later
- Show me the money...
- Pink slips
- Goldman Sachs as online bank
- GM vs. Toyota
- Showdown for the showroom
- Random recession note...
- In case you've been wondering...
- Two charts...
- How bad is it at General Motors?
- The Whiteboard: How credit cards become asset-backed bonds
- Just wait for the hearings on this...
- Here's why Paulson bailed on the TARP...
- How's it going at your workplace?
- If you've been wondering...
- I'm pretty sure this is bad...
- Well, THIS is interesting...
- You've been wondering how we're going to pay for the bailout?
- If you're keeping score
- Not so easy...
- Visual guide to the financial crisis
- German prudence great for rainy days
- Obama meant it about C02
- GM gets the 'Pelosi bump'
- Some good news in the fight against AIDS
- What's your workforce strategy?
- Google leaves Yahoo deal
- Winner gets a bad economy
- Dressing up for the crisis
- We're running up an 'eco debt,' too
- Bizarre HSBC bank ad
- Dow closes up nearly 900 points
- Show me the money
- Wait 'til Bernanke sees THIS!
- Most House members' campaign cash from outsiders
- Gold ain't glimmering
- Getting naked in short selling
- Strauss-Kahn apologizes to IMF for scandal
- A look inside Marketplace
- A spoonful of sugar...
- Stand Up and Face the Music
- What are we talking about?
- Morning reading...
- Oh, the irony...
- Take the money...
- The credit crisis as Antarctic expedition
- I thought this was great...
- You must be joking . . .
- Two useful nuggets and one shameless plug...
- Now, how to put this on the radio...
- Untangling credit default swaps
- Everybody's talking...
- Can he DO that?
- I.O.U.
- Chewing on the credit crisis
- The power of youth...
- How do you say 'too big to fail' in German?
- 'Twas the Night Before...
- Crisis explainer: Uncorking CDOs
- What would you ask if you had the chance?
- How did this happen?
- Don't look now...
- If you've got some spare time...
- Hitting Close to Home
- Show me the money
- Senate Bill...
- I know who'd pony up
- Think about this for a second...
- What's good for Warren Buffett...
- Raise your hand...
- Fundamentally speaking...
- Brackets for the meltdown office pool?
- Plenty of alternative ideas for getting out of this mess
- If at first...
- Revenge, rather than stopping the bleeding
- Goldman Sachs gets big boost from Buffett
- More victims of the Wall Street crisis
- What's your opinion on the bailout?
sponsor
Comments (2)
October 7, 2008 2:56 PM PT
So does the Fed and Treasury think about these plans and plot them out in secret before springing them on the public, or does Ben call Henry in the middle of the night and make up their plans on the spot? I can’t follow their train of thought at all!
October 26, 2008 2:27 PM PT
So, Ky, a simple question: The Fed is able to create money out of nothing, by essentially printing it (mostly electronic). This seems to be a nice scam if you can pull it off: a private club can print money at no cost, and buy real assets with it (shares in real companies). You don’t see a problem with that?
All this reverence for the Federal Reserve has to go; please do your homework: the Fed is a PRIVATE entity, owned by mostly European banks; and was created for the purpose of maintaining monopolies, and to continuously and steadily defraud the American people of their wealth (through money creation and inflation). This is a statement of fact, not opinion. Read “The Creature from Jekyll Island” by Griffin for a well referenced summary of what the Fed is all about; it has very little to do with the government.
Andreas.