Is the Table Set for the Next Financial Crisis?

18a US Department of the Treasury – NRHP-71001007 (E) (Photo credit: Kansas Sebastian)

By Scott Rubin – The announcement of QE3 is wearisome for many reasons. When the Federal Reserve and Treasury started down the path of radical market intervention, many enlightened investors opined that the intervention may go on into perpetuity. By all accounts, this prognostication has been borne out thus far.

Asset prices have been artificially manipulated and do not reflect long-term economic reality. Consider for example, the U.S. Treasury market. The yield on the 10-year note is currently around 1.84 percent. Is this an accurate reflection of the credit-worthiness and fiscal situation of the U.S. government? Does it accurately reflect inflation expectations? more> http://tinyurl.com/95fr4tc

Related articles

• Western financial system reduced to shell-games and ‘alchemy’ (sgtreport.com)
• Top Fed policymakers differ on QE3′s effectiveness, Ann Saphir, Reuters

Hottest IT Skill? Cybersecurity

By Carolyn Duffy Marsan – The need for cybersecurity experts spans all industries, from financial services, manufacturing and utilities to healthcare and retail. Among the major U.S. companies trying to fill cybersecurity-related positions are Boeing, Baylor Health Care System, Verisign and Office Depot.

Cybersecurity jobs also are plentiful in the U.S. federal government market.

Most of these high-paying cybersecurity jobs are not for recent computer science graduates; instead companies are looking to hire IT professionals with five to 15 years of experience with security systems and processes as well as related certifications. more> http://is.gd/IXtATW

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• Opposition grows to CISPA ‘Big Brother’ cybersecurity bill (theneteconomy.wordpress.com)
• How to land a cybersecurity job (networkworld.com)
• UMBC Training Centers Featured on CBS News in Baltimore for Leadership in Cybersecurity Education (prweb.com)
• Cyber Security Training and Education Information Added to U.S. News University Directory, PR Newswire/MarketWatch

The battle over money funds

Image @Wikipedia

By Thomas Cooley and Kim Schoenholtz – The run on U.S. MMMFs in September 2008 was a critical moment in the financial crisis. It underscored the extent to which these funds, an important part of the shadow banking system, created systemic risk that indirectly threatened the financing of even the healthiest U.S. firms. To end the run, the U.S. Government guaranteed MMMF liabilities, sustaining the funds’ promise to pay $1 for every share.

That guarantee stopped the run, but it also created enormous moral hazard. Were a similar threat to arise today, we can safely assume that taxpayers would remain on the hook to rescue the MMMFs. This uncompensated, rainy-day backstop constitutes a subsidy to the MMMF industry — and to its investors and borrowers.

Should taxpayers continue to subsidize the money market mutual fund (MMMF) industry? more> http://is.gd/ikNAVE

Related articles

• Money Market Funds – A Bad Deal Is About To Get Worse | LearnBonds.com (learnbonds.com)
• Bernanke: Money Market Funds Still at Risk of Runs (blogs.wsj.com)