Wednesday, July 15, 2015

The housing market has been a focus of Chairwoman Yellen since the beginning of her leadership.

...“Looking forward, (click here) prospects are favorable for further improvement in the U.S. labor market and the economy more broadly,” she told the committee.

Ms. Yellen tipped her hat to problems in Greece and China but, like other Fed officials, she does not seem overly worried. “Although the recovery in the euro area appears to have gained a firmer footing, the situation in Greece remains difficult,” she said. “And China continues to grapple with the challenges posed by high debt, weak property markets and volatile financial conditions.”...

The ultra-rich are effecting the burgeoning middle class in China. It is really odd China is struggling with real estate markets in the same way it effects the USA.  It is no minor coincidence.

The China property market problem is a long time issue.

August 18, 2014
By Bonnie Cao

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- China’s new-home prices (click here) fell in July in almost all cities that the government tracks as tight mortgage lending deterred buyers even as local governments eased property curbs.
Prices fell in 64 of the 70 cities last month from June, the National Bureau of Statistics said today, the most since January 2011 when the government changed the way it compiles the data. Beijing prices fell 1 percent from June, posting the first monthly decline since April 2012.
“The falling trend of China’s property market has no sign of improving,” Shen Jian-guang, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd., said in a phone interview today. “The key issue is the mortgages, despite all types of local government easings. The high rate is damping sentiment of owner occupiers.”...

Chairwoman Yellen is stating more transparency between the Fed and Congress would be damaging to relationships with the financial sector. She states the US Central Bank is the most transparent bank in the world. She also called attention to the investigations of the Justice Department and the oversight practiced at that level.

"Ron Paul Lives" 

It is also Congress's role to be sure the oversight is appropriate and not one designed by the NSA.  

It is interesting to realize how late a Republican Congress is when reacting to Fed policy. In 2008 everything that occurred in the financial markets was a surprise. And then the Fed was suppose to 'do something, anything' to stop the catastrophic Republican policies over the previous decade. It wasn't completely the Fed that stopped the failing market, it was a Democratic lead Congress that acted to increase economic activity in one that was contracting daily. 

Now, over a decade of Republican economic polices of "W" the Republicans are having a rush of conscience. 

The Republicans should consult with a favorite son in Donald Trump regarding their financial policy. I am quite sure he knows quite well what zero percent interest means to the American markets.