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The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.
Linus Pauling Categories
Author Archives: Jeannine Aversa
AP survey: Outlook for 2011 economy is brightening
Employers will hire more workers this year, and the economy will grow faster than envisioned three months ago, according to an Associated Press survey that found growing optimism among leading economists. But unemployment will stay chronically high — nearly 9 percent by year’s end, the latest quarterly AP Economy Survey shows. A majority of economists say it will be 2016 or later before unemployment drops to a historically normal rate of around 5 percent Read More
GOP economists criticize Fed’s bond-purchase plan
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s plan to rejuvenate the economy by having the Fed buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds is coming under renewed attack — this time from fellow Republican economists.
They argue that pumping many more dollars into the economy could eventually trigger inflation and weaken the dollar too much. The economists are making their case in a letter to Bernanke and in ads to run this week in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The Treasury bond purchases “risk currency debasement and inflation, and we do not think they will achieve the Fed’s objective of promoting employment,” the economists wrote…read more Read More
Fed proposes more credit card protections
The Federal Reserve is proposing to provide some additional credit card protections to prevent customers from being socked with exorbitant interest rates.
Under the proposed rules, credit card companies that offer to waive interest rates for six months would be barred from ending the promotional period early and charging higher fees, unless customers fall more than 60 days . . . read more Read More
Fed boss: Regulators looking into foreclosure mess
Federal banking regulators are examining whether mortgage companies cut corners on their own procedures when they moved to foreclose on people’s homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday, October 25.
Preliminary results of the in-depth review into the practices of the nation’s largest mortgage companies are expected to be released next month, Bernanke said in remarks to a housing-finance conference in Arlington, Va.
“We are looking intensively at the firms’ policies, procedures and internal controls related to foreclosures and seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to improper foreclosures,” Bernanke said . . . read more Read More
Americans struggle to regain their shrunken wealth
Americans’ long journey to regain the wealth they lost in the recession is stalled.
Households failed even to run in place during the April-June quarter as sinking stock prices eroded wealth. Stocks have since recovered about two-thirds of those losses. But based on last quarter’s data, household net worth would have to surge 23 percent . . . read more Read More
AP survey: A bleaker outlook for economy into 2011
The U.S. economic recovery will remain slow deep into next year, held back by shoppers reluctant to spend and employers hesitant to hire, according to an Associated Press survey of leading economists . . . read more Read More
Little relief seen for state and local layoffs
An injection of $26 billion in federal aid won’t be enough to save the jobs of more than a half million people who work for state and local governments or for companies that do business with them.
Economists say state and local budget gaps . . . read more Read More
Fed chief sees long road back to economic health
The nation faces a long road to get back to good economic health, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday, August 2 . . . read more Read More
As spending by wealthy weakens, so does economy
Wealthy Americans aren’t spending so freely anymore. And the rest of us are feeling the squeeze.
The question is whether the rich will cut back so much as to tip the economy back into recession . . . read more Read More
Fed chief to Congress: Don’t end stimulus spending
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday, July 22, that the fragile economy needs government stimulus spending to strengthen the recovery and help reduce unemployment.
Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, Bernanke urged lawmakers to come up with a credible plan . . . read more Read More
Fed chief focused on keeping recovery alive
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke heads to Congress Wednesday, July 21, with a message of reassurance: The Fed stands ready to take new steps to bolster the recovery if the economy worsens.
The Fed chief kicks off back-to-back appearances on Capitol Hill at a delicate time for the economy. The recovery, which had been flashing . . . read more Read More
Fed survey: Investors have bigger debt appetite
Investors are showing a bigger appetite to fund a range of securities, an encouraging sign that credit conditions are improving.
The Federal Reserve, in its first such survey, released Tuesday, July 13, found that demand . . . read more Read More
Fed to hold forum to boost small-business lending
The Federal Reserve said Wednesday, July 7, it will hold a forum next week to explore ways to improve the flow of lending to small businesses.
It’s the latest effort by the Fed to tackle the problem, which dates back to the 2008 financial crisis. . . . read more Read More
So what exactly is a ‘double-dip’ recession?
Concerns are rising that the economy is at risk of slipping into a “double-dip” recession.
High unemployment, Europe’s debt crisis, a slowdown in China, a teetering housing market and sinking stock prices are all weighing on a fragile U.S. recovery.
So what exactly is a double-dip recession?
Robert Hall has an idea of what one looks like but no precise definition. He’s chairman of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group of academic economists that officially declares the starts and ends of recessions . . . read more Read More
