Today, the Senate went on its August recess, without passing the small business bill, the unemployment extension for 99ers (which is still under consideration by the Finance Committee) or many other provisions. It also failed to get to the nomination of Peter Diamond, a lauded economist named More…
Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that the Federal Reserve is looking at a symbolic policy change in light of the sagging recovery — something designed to restore confidence, rather than to attack primary problems like stagnant wages or high rates of joblessness.
Today, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, addressed the annual meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference of the Council of State Governments. The topic was timely: the yawning budget gaps facing states.
In a new paper released today, entitled “How the Great Recession Was Brought to an End,” prominent economists Alan Blinder and Mark Zandi say that the stimulus, stress tests, emergency Federal Reserve maneuvers and Troubled Asset Relief Program saved the economy from collapse.
Bruce Bartlett writes that there is little the Fed or the Treasury can do to winnow down unemployment in the face of congressional intransigence on additional stimulus:
[T]hose who advocate a monetary helicopter-drop of money to stimulate growth concede that the Fed doesn’t have the capacity to do it
Today and tomorrow, Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, is delivering his twice-yearly Monetary Policy Report to Congress and taking questions — today from the Senate Banking Committee, tomorrow from the House Financial Services Committee.
Bernanke’s prepared testimony is more cautious than his last, given More…
We aren’t technically in a period of deflation yet, as core inflation continues to remain positive. But last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said this morning, the United States experienced the third straight month of technical deflation, with the price of consumer goods falling 0.1 percent.
As in More…
Today, the Federal Reserve released the minutes of its June Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Noting strong economic headwinds, the FOMC revised down its forecasts for growth, inflation and employment. The FOMC essentially determined that conditions had deteriorated, but not enough to warrant any changes to the Fed’s behavior:
The New York Times has an excellent in-depth interview with Paul Volcker, the former chair of the Federal Reserve, an advocate for the current financial regulatory reform bill — which will likely pass the Senate and become law toward the end of this week — and the author More…
Today, The Washington Post’s Neil Irwin reports that the Federal Reserve — concerned about the sustained high level of unemployment and the general stall-out in the recovery — is considering taking steps to bolster growth. Irwin summarizes the “modest” possible measures:
One pro-growth strategy would be to strengthen language
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