Fed Data Dump Part III: Elizabeth Duke's speech at the 2011 IFA conference in DC

Interestingly enough the good governor did not have much to say that had anything to do with factoring or PO funding. Did she realize that the International Factoring Association focuses on, mainly, non-bank lending? Apparently not. Her speech was all about the statistics related to traditional bank lending and had no bearing (or much interest) for those in attendance. Let me rephrase: I didn't get much out of it other than the impression that Ms. Duke was not very excited to be with us. She was pleasant for the most part, but did tend to deliver her presentation in a rather robotic and disengaged read-from-the-textbook manner and she danced around the pre-screened questions during the Q&A without actually answering them. Not too surprising.

Long story short: Bank lending is trending a bit upward year on year, but the recovery is fragile. Quit asking questions about Fed policy.

Fed Data Dump Part II: What they didn't want you to know

Looks like the data implies that there is more structural disintegrity in the system worldwide than initially believed. Lots of US taxpayer money went to overseas banks. I am at the International Factoring Association Conference in Washinton DC this week and will hear one of the Federal Reserve board members speak on how the Fed operates and her forecasts for the future. Should be rather interesting...will post more after her speech and Q&A.