The Atomic Bomb that is About to Explode at the Federal Reserve

I have consistently contended that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is something akin to a mad scientist who, in his development of new "tools" to manage monetary policy, is probably unaware of all the nuances and ramifications of the new tools he is developing. Indeed, one problem with one of his new tools may be about to blow up in his face.

It turns out that Bernanke's decision to pay interest on reserves held at the Fed by member banks has some twists to it that make what he is doing likely illegal. The blog Uneasy Money points this out in a post titled, Is the Federal Reserve Breaking the Law:

In a comment earlier today to this post, David Pearson shocked me by quoting the following passage from the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006:

Balances maintained at a Federal Reserve bank by or on behalf of a depository institution may receive earnings to be paid by the Federal Reserve bank at least once each calendar quarter, at a rate or rates not to exceed the general level of short-term interest rates.

As I said to David Pearson in my reply to his comment, I am flabbergasted by this. The Fed is now paying 0.25% interest on reserve balances while and the interest rate on 3-month T-bills is now 0.01%. Yet the statute states in black letters that the rate that the Fed may pay on reserves is “not to exceed the general level of short-term interest rates.” In fact, as can be easily seen on the Treasury’s Daily Yield Curve webpage, only on rare occasions was the 3-month T-bill rate as high as 0.25% in 2009 and it has been consistently less than 0.20% for most of 2009 and all of 2010 and 2011.

Got that? The Fed, as I have pointed out a number of times, is paying interest to bankers many times what is available in the marketplace and this turns out to be illegal.

Now it just so happens that the Congressional wording is a bit sloppy and says the pay out of "earnings" instead of interest, and you can be sure Bernanke is going to attempt to dance on the head of this pin , but the spirit of Act is clear, Fed member banks aren't supposed to be receiving payouts from the Fed that are greater than what they can get in the open market.

In other words, Bernanke is breaking the law, and one would think that now that this is public, he will have to cease paying interest at 0.25% to Fed bank members.

And as for him getting the law change, good luck to Bernanke trying to get new legislation through Congress, with the current anti-bankster sentiment in the country. Is there a Congressman around who will vote to allow the Fed to pay banks 25 times the current market rate?

This is where the atomic bomb explodes. Since Bernanke started paying interest on reserves (especially excess reserves),excess reserves have climbed from a few million to $1.6 trillion. If Bernanke stops paying interest at 0.25%, the money is likely to fly out of excess reserves and into the economy quicker than you can say, "hyper-inflation fiat money".

Maybe Bernanke will find a way to squirm out of this mess or simply ignore the law, the way recent Presidents have ignored many laws, but it will be nice to know that when the trials come Bernanke will be up there, with the other lawbreakers, having to explain why he ignored the law and paid the banksters interest 25 times greater than what is allowed by law.

(Thanks 2 Bob Murphy for pointing the Uneasy Money post out to me)