Bond Traders See Slim Pickings With Volcker Rule: Caroline Baum It is February 2013, and the U.S. Treasury has embarked on its quarterly refunding operation.

Obama’s Pyramid Schemes Would Make Keynes Happy: Caroline Baum Jobs, jobs, jobs. Meet the new mantra, same as the old mantra.

The Pelosi Fed Is the Dollar’s Worst Nightmare: Caroline Baum Within days of the Republican upset in the Massachusetts special election for the late Ted Kennedy’s seat, Barbara Boxer saw the way forward.

Goldman Parachute Awaits Geithner to Ease Fall: Caroline Baum Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to testify to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee tomorrow. The hearing is certain to be good theater. Whether it reveals good government, or a government working for the few at the expense of the many, is another matter.

Fed Should Read Its Own Memo on Rising-Rate Risk: Caroline Baum Bank regulators, in an effort to buff up their tarnished image and appear proactive, took it upon themselves to alert their charges to looming interest-rate risk.

Obama, Bernanke Need Miracles to Weather 2010: Caroline Baum If 2009 was a year for massive government intervention in the private economy and a full-court press on health-care reform, 2010 will be a time for weaning the nation from life support and evaluating what worked and what didn’t, and hopefully doing less of the second.

Banks Decline Yield Curve Invitation to Party On: Caroline Baum If you were to stop the average person on the street and ask him about the Treasury yield curve, he’d probably look at you with a blank stare.

Bernanke’s Ivory Tower Doesn’t Have a Mortgage: Caroline Baum You can almost hear the collective sigh of relief emanating from the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, and the nearby offices of Alan Greenspan, to Fed chief Ben Bernanke’s elegant, econometric argument that low interest rates didn’t cause the housing bubble.

‘New Normal’ Tops 2009 List of Overused Phrases: Caroline Baum For journalists, pundits and comedians, the end of the year provides an opportunity to look back, fantasize forward and let the creative juices flow.

Obama Bullies Fat Cats While Message Meanders: Caroline Baum We saved your collective derrieres. Now it’s your turn to save ours.