Rolfe Winkler

Rogoff says China crisis may trigger regional slump (Ito/Rial, Bloomberg)

Fed to get $200 billion boost (Hilsenrath, WSJ) The Treasury will borrow the money and put it on deposit at the Fed. Bernanke could use that money to fund Fed interventions in the economy instead of printing more money.

The extended period continues (Bernanke) In his semiannual monetary policy report for the House, Bernanke reiterates that rates will stay low for an “extended period.” Go the the “monetary policy” section of the speech.

New home sales fall to record low in January (CR) “…another extremely weak report.” And imagine what will happen to home sales if the extended period ever ends…

Greenspan: U.S. recovery extremely unbalanced (Lawder, Reuters) He also says that the 10-year yield is the one stat he looks at morning and afternoon….higher rates will surely nip the recovery in the bud.

Second strike paralyzes Greece (Kitsantonis, NYT) Greece may be bankrupt, but Greek workers won’t settle for pay cuts.

Italy’s worse, and the Nazis stole our gold (Reuters, ht Stacy-Marie Ishmael) Meanwhile, Greece’s deputy prime minister is making excuses.

The Bankruptcy Boys (Krugman, NYT) Krugman is entirely correct that Republicans are all talk and no action when it comes to deficit control. And he doesn’t even mention that the biggest recent increase to America’s long-term obligations was the Medicare drug benefit signed by George Bush.

Happy birthday! (imgur)

Floating, ice-breaking backhoe (imgur) This looks like a lot of fun…