Fed Chairman Bernanke Projects Continued Slow Growth in Economy
It’s a continued slow pace of recovery for the U.S. economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in testimony today before the House Financial Services Committee. MarketWatch reports: At the...
View ArticleTax Rebates Cannot Save Us
Reports following Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s Monday meeting with Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicate that House Democrats are considering a $100 billion economic stimulus package that “money for...
View ArticleMorning Bell: Don’t Make the Markets Worse
The campaign to turn the current economic turmoil into justifications for new invasive federal government intervention in the marketplace is in full swing. The Hill reports, “After Bear Stearns...
View ArticleEconomic Myths vs. Reality
The recent failures of Bear Stearns and the Carlyle Group, coupled with turmoil in the housing markets and overall pessimism about the economy, has Congress rushing to microphones to promise a...
View ArticleMorning Bell: Government Is Cause Of, Not Solution To, High Health Care Costs
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Monday that health care spending will “rise relentlessly” unless lawmakers overhaul the health care system. As if trying to prove his point,...
View ArticleMorning Bell: Having Their Cake and Eating It, Too
Yesterday before the Joint Economic Committee, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a clear case as to why federal action is needed: home mortgages and car loans had become harder to get,...
View ArticleWhat Should Congress Do to Help the Economy?
Following the testimony this morning of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, the House Budget Committee turned to three economists for their recommendations. Bill Beach, director of Heritage’s Center...
View ArticleCongress Considers Another Stimulus to Boost Economy
With the endorsement of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and lukewarm support from the White House, Congress appears intent on passing another economic stimulus bill, but before lawmakers rush...
View ArticlePro-Growth Tax Policy, Not a Transfer of Funds, Will Stimulate the Economy
The House Budget Committee yesterday held a hearing, “Economic Recovery: Options and Challenges.” The headliner of the event, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, caused quite a stir with his near...
View ArticleBernanke Calls for Deficit Reduction
Ben Bernanke made an important point while testifying before the House Budget Committee: lawmakers must reduce the federal deficit and return the nation to fiscal sustainability. The deficit, set to...
View ArticleBernanke Makes The Right Call On Systemic Financial Risk
One of the larger mistakes in the Obama financial regulatory reform package was its attempt to give the Federal Reserve additional powers so that it could in theory protect the economy from risks such...
View ArticleAre Spring Doves Flocking to the Fed?
The White House has indicated it intends to nominate San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Janet Yellen as Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington. The White House has said the...
View ArticleVideo: JPMorgan’s Dimon Takes on Fed Chairman Bernanke
The U.S. economy continues to drag, but why’s the recovery going so slowly? The 13.9 million unemployed Americans aren’t the only ones who want to know. Yesterday, following a speech by Federal...
View ArticleWashington in a Flash: Ben Bernanke Heads to the Hill
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is due to deliver the Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to Congress today before the House Financial Services Committee. What will he say about unemployment, if...
View ArticleMorning Bell: Stopping the Largest Tax Hike in History
The largest tax hike in history is due to strike the United States on January 1, 2013. Known as “Taxmageddon,” it would impose $494 billion in higher taxes on the American people in the first year. So...
View ArticleBernanke’s Message to Congress: Your Turn for Good Economic Policy
The stock market rose Wednesday in anticipation of Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke’s remarks Thursday. Traders sold Treasury bonds and bought stocks, hoping Bernanke would announce a new...
View ArticleMorning Bell: How Taxmageddon Will Impact You
“I’ve said that this is a make-or-break moment for the middle class, and I believe it,” President Obama told an Ohio crowd yesterday. Indeed it is—because in a sluggish economy, American taxpayers are...
View ArticleQE4: Another Big Step Down a Dangerous Road
The Federal Reserve Board today announced the introduction of yet another hyper-aggressive monetary policy, dubbed “QE4” by some for the fourth round of quantitative easing. Three times a dud, fourth...
View ArticleMorning Bell: “Default” Is a Red Herring in Debt Ceiling Debate
Yesterday, President Obama accused his opposition in Congress of threatening to “default” on America’s loans in order to make a political point. I am not going to have a monthly or every three months...
View ArticleBernanke’s Defense of Fed Policies Neither Comforting nor Convincing
Newscom Do the risks from the Federal Reserve’s trillion-dollar annual stimulus program justify the rewards? That was the central question at Tuesday’s Senate Banking Committee hearing featuring Fed...
View ArticleNext Fed Chairman: Independence Is Paramount
Newscom Larry Summers withdrew his name from consideration for the next chairmanship of the Federal Reserve. The office currently occupied by Ben Bernanke wields enormous power over short-run economic...
View ArticleThe Fed’s Monetary Policy Matters, Too
Newscom It’s easy to get distracted with news like the guessing game of who will replace Ben Bernanke. But the more important issue is: What is the U.S. doing with its monetary policy and why? What...
View ArticleThe Fed Inflation-Unemployment Trade-Off: Outlasting the Energizer Bunny
Newscom George Selgin has a new post on the Free Banking Blog that highlights the economic quandary the Fed now has the U.S. in. The post uses subtle sarcasm to make an excellent point, but many...
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