Ed,
You may well be right but, so far, Bernanke gives
the impression of being detached from the
Washington scene and immersed in academic papers
most of the time. Greenspan was certainly
gregarious and was constantly consulting at home
and abroad -- China several times. I'd be
interested to know what he thinks about the
latest "twist". If he's said something publicly
then I've missed it. His predecessor, Paul
Volcker, as with his article in the NYT, is certainly very worried.
Keith
At 21:12 29/09/2011, you wrote:
Keith, from my years in the Canadian public
service, I know that lots of people who are
supposed to remain at a distance from each other
talk to each other on important matters. I
would think that the Chair of the Fed and
President talk to each other and talk often
especially in times of looming crisis like the
present. Declining dinner invitations and
having talks on critical matters behind closed doors are two different things.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Keith Hudson
To:
<mailto:[email protected]>RE-DESIGNING
WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, , EDUCATION ; <mailto:[email protected]>Ed Weick
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 1:34 PM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Bernanke speaking because Obama can't?
Ed,
I doubt whether Bernanke discussed this with
Obama -- at least directly. Chairmen of the Fed
have valued their (so-called) independence.
Greenspan would see Bush from time to time but
maintains that he never discussed Fed matters
with him. His predecessor Paul Volcker (or
perhaps the one before him) went so far as to
decline dinner invitations from the President
(that is, he turned down the first invitation
and didn't get another one after that!).
I would still maintain that Bernanke is feeling
panicky. So far, he's just been pushing on a
piece of string. We still don't know just why
the Fed committee met for two days. What came
out of it didn't seem to justify it. They could,
of course, have decided on other things which we don't know about.
Keith
At 17:13 29/09/2011, you wrote:
Keith, I tend to go along with Arthur on this one.
Because politicians can't help being what they
are, more of this kind of thing needs to be
said by authoritative people who are not
politicians. If Obama were to say what
Bernanke, he would be accused of making an
ideologically based political statement. The
Republicans would find ways to tear it to
shreds. If Bernanke is saying it, however, it
is coming from a highly respected economist (no
matter what you think of him) with no political
axe to grind (supposedly). It's a straight-out
warning, and it's certain that he would have
discussed the statement with Obama before he made it.
Ed
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Keith Hudson
To:
<mailto:[email protected]>RE-DESIGNING
WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [Futurework] Bernanke speaking because Obama can't?
Ed,
Having failed to produce more employment by his
Keynesian money-printing methods, Bernanke is
now trying to throw the blame onto Congress!
The irony is that, in fact, members of Congress
have already brought about a great deal of
extra employment over the years when getting
funds for pork barrel projects in their own
constituencies. These have usually been
successfully achieved by tucking them
inconspicuously into larger pieces of
legislation. These projects, too, have been
adding to government deficits every year, just as Bernanke has.
It's also nonsense for Bernanke to suggest that
lessons could be learned from the emerging
nations, and particularly China. True, their
governmental budgets are often far more
disciplined than ours but that's mainly due to
centuries' old cultures which means that their
people, to a very considerable extent, will do
as they're told. China, for example, doesn't
have anything like a welfare state or social
security (worth speaking of) either. This means
that ordinary people save as much as 30% or 40%
of their earning against their old age or for
health reasons. If Americans were to go
anywhere near that level of savings then it
would kill even the present depressed economy stone dead.
Bernanke is becoming panicky -- as well he
might. Also, I suspect, he's trying to distance
himself from Obama who, probably, won't get re-elected in 2012.
Keith
At 14:30 29/09/2011, you wrote:
From today's Globe and Mail.
Ed
Long-term unemployment in U.S. a national crisis, Bernanke says
MARTIN CRUTSINGER
WASHINGTON The Associated Press
Last updated Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2011 9:37PM EDT
In unusually strong language directed at U.S.
politicians, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke has called long-term unemployment a
national crisis and suggested Congress needs
to act on jobs and the housing industry.
Mr. Bernanke noted that about 45 per cent of
the unemployed have been out of work for at least six months.
This has never happened in the post-war
period in the United States. They are losing
the skills they had, they are losing their
connections, their attachment to the labour force.
He added: The unemployment situation we have,
the job situation, is really a national crisis.
Mr. Bernanke said the government needs to
provide support to help the long-term
unemployed retrain for jobs and find work. And
he suggested that Congress should take more responsibility.
Responding to a question, Mr. Bernanke said
long-term unemployment, budgetary discipline
and housing policy were the three most
important areas where Congress could contribute to an economic recovery.
There are certainly some areas where other
policy makers could contribute, he said.
Mr. Bernankes comments were his latest in a
public effort to get Congress to act further
to rejuvenate the economy. He suggested that
the Fed can achieve only so much through
policies that seek to lower long-term interest rates.
The Federal Reserve has made enormous efforts
to try to help this economy recover and
stabilize through its control of interest
rates, or monetary policy, he said. Those
policies have driven rates to record lows.
Monetary policy can do a lot, but monetary
policy is not a panacea, Mr. Bernanke said.
On the housing crisis, he said strong
government programs to help the industry
recover would aid the Feds own efforts to
boost housing by driving mortgage rates to their lowest levels in decades.
In his speech, the central banker said the
United States and other rich nations could
relearn a few lessons from fast-growing developing nations.
He said the successful emerging economies such
as China had adopted disciplined budget
policies, embraced free trade, made public investments and supported education.
Advanced economies like the United States
would do well to relearn some of the lessons
from the experiences of the emerging market
economies, such as the importance of
disciplined fiscal policies, Mr. Bernanke said.
But in the question-and-answer period, Mr.
Bernanke cautioned U.S. lawmakers against
cutting deficits too quickly to reduce budget
deficits. He has said that could put the fragile economy at risk.
He noted in his speech that emerging markets
such as China account for a large and growing
share of the global economy, so they need to act accordingly.
With increasing size and influence comes greater responsibility, he said.
Emerging nations will be challenged in the
future by their reliance on exports to drive growth, he added.
The Obama administration has been pushing the
Group of 20 major economies, which includes
traditional powers such as the United States
and emerging economies such as China, Brazil
and India, to boost domestic demand rather
than relying so heavily on exports to rich nations.
Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2011/09/
----------
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Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2011/09/
Keith Hudson, Saltford, England http://allisstatus.wordpress.com/2011/09/
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