Fed’s interest earnings approach $100b
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve said Friday it transferred a record $96.9 billion to the U.S. treasury in 2014, profits on its unprecedented $4.4 trillion in holdings designed to support the U.S. economy in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
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Returning to a topic I have raised a few times here at Angry Bear: what is the real cost of financing U.S. Public Debt. Also interesting from the perspective of the repeated desire from the Right to “Audit the Fedâ€. More from the McClatchy piece:
The Fed’s total assets were $4.5 trillion last year and its holdings generated $115.9 billion in interest income, the central bank said Friday, and that reflected an increase of $25.5 billion from 2013. The Fed also paid banks $6.9 billion in interest income for their balances held at Federal Reserve district banks last year.
The independent Fed, which does not rely on Congress for funding, had operating expenses of $6.1 billion in 2014. This number included $1.9 billion to run the Federal Reserve Board, currency costs and operation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created in the 2010 revamp of financial regulation.
Lots to unpack here and plenty of directions to take the discussion. So rather than noodle on by focusing on my own preoccupations let me turn this over to AB readers. As a Federal Reserve/Public Debt/Quantitative Easing/CFPB Open Thread.
Update: Link to Fed’s Audit Report (h/t McClatchy) Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; Financial Statements as of and for the Years Ended December 31, 2014 and 2013, and Independent Auditors’Report
