2nd Month Anniversary of 'Notes on the Crises"
Thank You so Much for Your Support
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Hello Reader,
Yesterday was the 2nd month anniversary of this newsletter “Notes on the Crises”. I wanted to take out a moment to thank you all for your support, in whatever capacity you’ve been providing support, and review the media this substack has gotten over the past month and praise it's gotten on twitter. This month has really been the month of interviews for me. I was thrilled to begin the month by speaking to Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal on “How The Crisis Pushed The Fed Into New Territory” on their Bloomberg podcast Odd Lots.The description of the episode was also extremely generous:
Amid this crisis, Nathan Tankus, a researcher at the Modern Money Network, has emerged as one of the foremost experts on what the Fed has done, and what it’s capable of doing, through his widely read newsletter
A week later I was interviewed and quoted in a Washington Post story on the Federal Reserve interventions in the final paragraph of the story:
The weaker restrictions on recipients of the Fed’s lending program may be partly justified, said Nathan Tankus, research director at the Modern Money Network, which studies monetary policy. The corporate bonds that the Fed is purchasing from companies can be resold, whereas direct loans establish an agreement between the company and the government that makes the asset less valuable to the central bank, he said.
“Purchases of debt are a slightly more arm’s-length transaction than the loan, which is forming a bilateral relationship,” Tankus said. “But this is really just the fig leaf the Fed can use to justify lifting the restrictions.”
On May 1st Yakov Feygin and Dominik Leusder generously cited me in an essay on “The Class Politics of The Dollar System” in a publication of the think tank the Jain Family Institute. On May 11 I got the chance to be on economist David Beckworth’s podcast “Macro Musings” talking about authorizing the Federal Reserve to issue its own securities, the crisis and monetary policy more generally. That was an especially fun experience for me and I’m thrilled there’s a full transcript! To round out the month, economist Brad DeLong praised my series on the Federal Reserve’s Coronavirus actions on the Washington Center for Equitable Growth’s blog:
Yet all who are not experts deep in the weeds do not understand what he and his central bank have done and are doing. In order to find out, you need to be following the thoughtful and patient Nathan Tankus.
That same day I was interviewed on Sam Seder’s long-running podcast “The Majority Report” on “Pandemic Monetary Policy”. It’s been quite a busy month! I’ve also written 13 posts in the past month, which, while not the pace of my first month, is still quite frequent. Here’s the praise I’ve been getting on twitter for what I’ve been writing (though I’m sure I’ve missed some of it):
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
Thanks so much to all my paid subscribers! Here is my round up of this incredible, incredible month. I truly can't believe how successful this has been and I'm so excited about continuing it from now on! https://t.co/UwhICJWVdi
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
First post of the week! Another #MonetaryPolicy101 post, this time on collateral and collateral policy. I think I'm going to really emphasize collateral policy in the 101 series given how important it is to crises. https://t.co/y9nPtdvdow
Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart
NEW ODD LOTS OUT: @tracyalloway and I talked to @NathanTankus about the Fed's extraordinary actions taken during this crisis, and the uncharted territory Powell & Co. now find themselves in. https://t.co/NrLKHlBZUn
Joe Weisenthal @TheStalwart
NEW ODD LOTS OUT: @tracyalloway and I talked to @NathanTankus about the Fed's extraordinary actions taken during this crisis, and the uncharted territory Powell & Co. now find themselves in. https://t.co/NrLKHlBZUn
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
New #MonetaryPolicy101 post: An introduction to payment systems using the parable of the shtetl. By the end of this series I may put every fairy tale and story into balance sheet terms. This one is deceptively simple and has a lot to teach! https://t.co/Xx9hZRFhJx
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
Finally, part 6 of my ongoing series covering the Federal Reserve's crisis actions is up. My apologies for the long delay, between the MSLP expansion announcement and some personal issues that come up, I got delayed in getting this out. Hope you enjoy it! https://t.co/aQw44vkBe3
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
I think this is going to be a provocative one :) My proposal for an alternative, far better accounting gimmick for the CARES Act, and the crisis response more generally https://t.co/3QzHQnQa5zNathan Tankus @NathanTankus
If you use the proper comparison-what is currently called "U5"-and refer to the only actual monthly unemployment series we have from the Great Depression, what emerges is we haven't experienced this level of unemployment since February 1938. Graph and data courtesy @gabriel_mathy https://t.co/s4UF92GPnS
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
New #MonetaryPolicy101 post- Banks as Payment Processors. https://t.co/hs8WheGD3S
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
New #MonetaryPolicy101 post- Banks as Payment Processors. https://t.co/hs8WheGD3S
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
New #MonetaryPolicy101 post- Banks as Payment Processors. https://t.co/hs8WheGD3S
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
Following up on an earlier post on local government currencies, here I propose university issue their own currencies and propose the Federal Reserve backstop them. https://t.co/ghQGKwBo3r
Nathan Tankus @NathanTankus
Some night, or maybe tomorrow morning, reading for those out there interested in money and monetary policy. Put on some boots, we're wading into the plumbing of the payments system. https://t.co/fM3t7X8eTWThere’s a larger and larger crowd of people saying my work is extremely worthwhile and deserves continued support. I hope readers of this newsletter agree. I’ve continued to get paid subscriptions and can comfortably treat this newsletter as a full time job. If I keep on getting paid subscriptions I’ll be able to produce this substack indefinitely, but at a higher quality. If I get enough paid subscriptions, I’ll start a podcast to go along with the writing I do here. Please consider taking out a paid subscription if you haven’t as it really is direct support from readers which makes this kind of in-depth and detail-oriented writing- and education- possible. Thanks again.
Stay Safe!
Nathan Tankus