News
Washington Times | Bernanke makes case for Fed rate policies
Chairman Ben S. Bernanke offered a wide-ranging defense Monday of the Federal Reserve’s bold policies to stimulate the still-weak economy, saying the Fed needs to drive down borrowing rates because the economy isn’t growing fast enough to reduce high unemployment.
Bloomberg | Investors Doubt QE3 Lift to U.S. Discretionary Spending
Investors are proving skeptical that the Federal Reserve’s announcement of additional quantitative easing will get Americans to spend more.
Market Watch | Fed’s Bernanke takes on critics of QE3
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke attempted Monday to answer some of the fierce criticism and public unease facing the Fed’s third round of bond purchases, known as quantitative easing or QE3.
Bloomberg | Volcker Says Fed Bond-Buying Has No Effect on Inflation
Paul Volcker, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, said the U.S. central bank’s latest bond-buying program isn’t creating inflationary pressure.
Econ Comments & Analysis
NY Sun | Bernanke Warns His Creator
“Bernanke warns congress to butt out of interest-rate policy discussions . . .” is the headline up on the Drudge Report following the speech today by the Federal Reserve’s chairman at Indiana.
Blogs
AEI | How low interest rates are affecting Social Security
The Social Security trust fund is an accounting entity with little economic meaning. However, the trust fund does have an important legal meaning: Once the fund is depleted, by law Social Security must cut benefits across the board to the level payable through payroll tax revenues alone, implying cuts of around 25 percent for new and existing beneficiaries alike.
