This is bad news for housing values. If people don't have jobs, they can't afford to pay for mortgages. This reduces demand for homes, which drives down prices, drives down housing values, ending people HELOC (home equity lines of credit), leading to more foreclosures, lower home prices, more foreclosures, defaults…

Read more on Federal Reserve Expects High Unemployment Indefinitely…

The Federal Reserve wants to improve its image. Currently, people think about it as an agency that facilitates bailouts of fat cats on Wall Street.

The Obama administration is more interventionist than the Bush administration. Even though the Fed is independent, I'm sure it knows who butters its bread.

Read more on Federal Reserve Releases PSA About Wise Credit Card Use…

The Federal Reserve is playing a dangerous game. The dollar is record lows. Gold is at record highs. Oil is at $80 a barrel. The economy is underperforming and inflation remains low.

Read more on Inflation, Interest Rates Expected To Stay Low Into 2010…

The Federal Reserve is operating a program to buy over one trillion dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities. This keeps mortgage interest rates at record lows.

This program is expensive and members of the Federal Reserve board are arguing about whether to scale it back or to expand it.

Read more on Federal Reserve Struggles To Loosen Credit Market…

It's impossible to get a loan from a bank these days unless you have a credit score north of 700 and a lot of documentable income.

Until people are ready to buy bonds backed by real estate, by homes and commercial real estate, until people have some confidence in real estate values, there's going to be no bond market backed by real estate and therefore very little new lending and therefore no prospects for economic growth.

Read more on Despite Trillions Of Dollars Of Interventions, The Debt Market Remains Paralyzed…

Until now, states have taken the lead role with rules on lending.

On Oct. 1, the Federal Reserve's new federal rules come into effect.

Those with poor credit currently pay up to two interest points more.

Read more on The New Lending Rules…

Most economists expect inflation to jump as the federal government must finance enormous deficits, theoretically crowding out private businesses in the struggle for loans.

Though economic activity is no longer declining, it's not advancing much either. A shaky economy prompts the Fed to keep its foot on the gas peddle.

Read more on Fed Keeps Short-Term Interest Rates Near Zero…

The Federal Reserve has decided to keep interest rates at their current levels.

They're pulling back on their program to buy about $1.5 trillion in mortgage-backed securities.

The Fed wants to keep mortgage rates low to keep the housing market from collapsing further.

Read more on Fed Wants To Wean Housing Market Off Its Trillion-Dollar Intervention…

The New York Times reports that the Federal Reserve will use unconventional measures to prop up the lending industry.

You can get loans at low interest rates if you have superb credit, but most borrowers will have a hard time finding loans and when they do get them, they will have to pay high rates.

Read more on The Fed Puts Out All Stops…

Over the past 25 years, we've had an explosion of fancy debt securities, many of them backed by mortgages of varying qualities.

New York's branch of the Federal Reserve said this week it had started buying these things to boost the housing market by putting more money into it.

Read more on Fed Buys Mortgage-Backed Securities…