After US Federal Reserve (Fed) watchers and the media poured over the recently released 2008 meeting transcripts, discussing ad nauseam what was said and the inner meaning of such statements, can the real story be found in what wasn’t discussed? As the housing market was collapsing all around it, the Fed, a semi-private institution whose majority shareholders are said to include the largest US banks, was making decisions to purchase mortgage-backed securities. The large banks had recently engaged in a highly profitable escapade where they packaged toxic assets into opaque mortgage-backed securities that were advertised as being among the highest…
With Fed's 2008 Minutes, It's What Wasn't Discussed That Matters
Mark Melin
Mark Melin is an alternative investment practitioner whose specialty is recognizing the impact of beta market environment on a technical trading strategy. A portfolio and industry consultant, wrote or edited three books including High Performance Managed Futures (Wiley 2010) and The Chicago Board of Trade’s Handbook of Futures and Options (McGraw-Hill 2008) and taught a course at Northwestern University's executive education program.