Bush's Achilles heel: Fed is truly concerned about jobless recovery...

[lindashaw]

Bernanke says Fed can be patient on U.S. rates

http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/030922/economy_fed_bernanke_1.html

(Some real caution is sprinkled through this release, even as Bernanke tries to be upbeat.}

snip...

Bernanke said a relatively high level of joblessness and unused industrial capacity in the United States meant already-low inflation could move lower.

"The basic idea that inflation will remain tame and under control is a good message to take away," he said. "But what I'd like to point out is that there are some risks to the downside there."

"My forecast actually is that inflation will actually fall even a little bit further from where it is today," he said.

(Is Bernanke remembering his 2002 speech about DEFLATION? Hmmm.....
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2002/20021121/default.htm)

SNIP...

He also said there was a risk that the reluctance businesses had shown to boost their spending earlier had not fully dissipated, in which case the recovery could falter.

"It seems to us at the Fed that some of this (corporate) gloom is fading somewhat, that firms are more willing to spend on capital and expansion," Bernanke said. "We're hoping that hiring will come soon following that."

"But ... we don't fully understand the caution and the gloom that seems to have permeated corporate America in the last year, and that this might be a false dawn I think is the main concern that we still have about this recovery," he said.

[Don_G]

1. I Would Say

That the corporate executives and CEOs' don't believe much of what ShrubCo has to say. All news from the White House is heavily edited, slanted, and timed to have the least possible impact if the news happens to be bad.

We know that and they're just discovering it for themselves.

[cmd]

2. I hope they are

We had 640 more layoffs in our area in the last week.

[AWD]

10. Add 900 more to that, CMD

Timken Company announced 900 layoffs on Friday.....that's in addition to the 640 workers at Fleming Foods.

[kysrsoze]

11. The Fed completely pussy-footed the whole unemployment issue

Talk about tiptoe-ing around the subject. You have to really read it to pull out htat concern.

[ixion]

3. jobless recovery

what a twisted and meaningless oxymoron that is...:eyes:

[MGKrebs]

4. I own a small wholesaling business,

and it's very simple for me: My customers aren't buying as much as they used to, so I won't buy as much as I used to.

I'm not going to stock up in the hopes that my customers will suddenly start buying more stuff tomorrow. That's a good way to kill a business. When they start buying more, so will I.

[teryang]

5. People aren't buying because they are getting gouged

...by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, health care services, utility companies, state and local government, higher education, etc., while many have either lost jobs or aren't being paid a good enough wage where they work.

<"But ... we don't fully understand the caution and the gloom that seems to have permeated corporate America in the last year...>

I find the deflation statements ridiculous.

[Nottingham]

6. The depression has been studied for many years!

High Unemployment is the biggest factor
But when the greed of a few men gobbles up all the Wealth of the Nation

Depression is a certainty plus add a conservative administration
and its HERE!

Saddest part is the administration is spending money on industries that are not hiring American workers but hiring cheap labor overseas

We are talking Major Depression here!

I don't see Bush Wising up AT ALL

[KayLaw]

7. My case

I can't work because I have a severly disabled child. I earn a little on CD interest that, when Clinton was president, was a lot more than a little. My husband works for the state and won't get a raise because of cutbacks and actually makes less now because of insurance premiums. He helps people with their computers on the side but that business has almost completely dried up because most of his clients are retirees and they have to cut back because they rely on CD interest. I'm not complaining but that's just the way it goes and the reason we've have to slash our spending so dramatically under Bush. We refuse to refinance our house just to have money to blow. In turn, I'm sure this hurts the businesses to whom we used to give our money.

[priller]

8. Bernanke's reasoning seems to be missing a few items:

1) Productivity is rising now mainly because business are laying off employees and working their remaining people harder. I'm not sure how much higher that can go.

2) He's not mentioning the effect of ShrubCo's massive deficits on interest rates.

3) A good chunk of the improving GDP is due to military spending.

I can't help but think there are higher interest rates coming our way. Bye bye refi-boom when that happens.

[sleipnir]

9. CAPITALISM

'aint it a bitch.

[AndyTiedye]

12. It Isn't Capitalism...

...when a select bunch of robber barons buy the government.