Billionaire investor Warren Buffet compares the US Federal Reserve to the world’s biggest hedge fund, Bloomberg reports. The Fed is generating $80 or $90 billion annually in revenue for the US government, Buffet says. The investor adds that in the current situation the Fed can get rid of the assets with lenders putting no pressure. The volume of the US government securities being on the Fed’s balance has grown several times after the crisis and reached $3.8 trillion. The Fed “can pick its time, and if you have somebody wise there - and I think Bernanke is wise, and I certainly expect his successor to be - it can be handled. But it is something that’s never quite been done on this scale. It will be interesting to watch,” Buffet says. In the late 2008 the Federal Reserve System amid the Global financial crisis lowered the rate to zero and then launched the Quantatitative Easing programme (QE) which was aimed at buying the US securities. Thus, it was assumed to stabilize situation on the financial markets and make loans available again. Though, on the whole the programme was successful, it is supposed that exit may cause serious hardships, as firstly, mass selling of assets may speed up the inflation and secondly, increase sharply the lending rates in the US. Ben S. Bernanke leaves his office in January 2014. Fed Vice Chairman Janet Yellen is supposed to be the leading candidate to replace Bernake, as well as former Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn.
