Unemployment could undercut U.S. recovery: Bernanke

[brentspeak]

Source: Reuters

Unemployment could undercut U.S. recovery: Bernanke
Tue Jul 21, 2009 7:02pm EDT

By Mark Felsenthal and Alister Bull

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Tuesday said the outlook for the long-suffering U.S. economy was improving, but supportive policies would be needed for some time to prevent rising unemployment from undercutting recovery.

snip

"Better conditions in financial markets have been accompanied by some improvement in economic prospects," Bernanke told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. "Despite these positive signs, the rate of job loss remains high."

While housing and household spending appear to be stabilizing, unemployment is likely to remain uncomfortably high into 2011 and could sap fragile consumer confidence, he warned.

snip

But government bond prices got a lift as Bernanke poured cold water on the idea the Fed might begin to raise rates this year, while also assuring investors policy-makers would not let the inflation genie out of the bottle.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE56K0AI20090721

---

It's now official: In the view of Bernanke and Wall St., "economic recovery" doesn't mean gainfully-employing American citizens; it means maintaining profits for Wall St. Unemployment is only important, so says Bernanke, in that it could indirectly spoil Wall Street's party.

[notadmblnd]

1. Duh!!! They think?

Why is it we get it before they do, however, they are the "leaders"

[Parche]

2. DOH

we have to stop the companies from moving their operations to other countries
that is the problem
we dont have any manufacturing base left hardly
penalize them

[twitomy]

10. Go ahead, penalize them..

See if that makes them stay.

My brother is a tax accountant for a health care related company. They are in the process of domiciling to Ireland. My Brother will evenutually be out of a job.

Why? For lower tax rates, and in fear of Obama's proposal to further tax revenue from outside the US. So in this case, Obama's plan to "punish" companies for having overseas operations is having the opposite effect..The economy is too global and the US
market is not the only place companies can make a buck for the Feds to start bullying
corporations. They will only say "fuck you, who needs this" and move out.

The US should be doing everything to being companies HERE, like Ireland is doing...

[lexanman]

15. sorry to hear about your brother

but can't he pull himself up by his bootstraps. Maybe start his own accounting business here. And if he thinks the taxes are too high here, well he's free to move to Ireland or whatever country he would like and renounce his citzenship here. Then your brother can say F the US, who needs this" and move.

[OhioChick]

16. "can't he pull himself up by his bootstraps?"

:wtf:

[lexanman]

18. Well if he's going to

lose his job because of the evil Obama is proposing, just pick himself up and stop crying like is told to the rest of us and re-train. Or mabye get a new education to compete in the global workplace. Perhaps his brother could go back for engineering. And when that job is lost to an H1B or outsourced altogether, well he can just get out those trusty bootstraps and pick himself up again. And over and over. That is the argument right?:sarcasm:

[girl gone mad]

21. Well, that isn't very smart on the part of your brother's employer.

Ireland is in very bad shape as a result of the economic collapse. It's highly unlikely that any business would be more successful in Ireland than in the US. Ireland may technically have a lower corporate tax rate, but they raise twice as much as a percentage of their gross tax revenue from taxing corporations as we do in the US, mostly because we have so many loopholes that http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/08/12/no-corporate-taxes/">2/3rds of American corporations pay no taxes. Maybe this is why America is considered to be the http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Competitiveness%20Report/index.htm">most business-friendly country in the world, while Ireland ranks a lowly 22nd.

Your brother's company sounds too dumb to even be in business in the first place. I'd be interested to know if they're publicly traded. Sounds like a good candidate to add to a short portfolio.

[Abq_Sarah]

26. Have you read the criteria they use?

http://www.weforum.org/pdf/GCR08/GCR08.pdf

[Parche]

37. corporations

most dont pay any taxes......look it up

:hi:

[lexanman]

20. dude, they are going to go anywhere they can get away with paying people

50 cents an hour. Lots of folks on these threads are completely fine with that. Oh, and of course they should also be allowed to reimport their product for free, and sell it for 500 times more. Thats Global Capitalism. The end of this game comes when no one has money to buy anything anymore and the CEO's and owners hide their new found wealth in tax havens. They then have no need to start a business here again. They will have sucked us dry. And plenty will defend that to the death, even on progressive boards such as this.

And we will all be standing scratching our heads why. As Clinton would say, "it's the greed, stupid".

[OhioChick]

3. No shit. n/t

[hedgehog]

4. I checked to find the Federal Reserve's Mission:

Mission
The Federal Reserve System is the central bank of the United States. It was founded by Congress in 1913 to provide the nation with a safer, more flexible, and more stable monetary and financial system. Over the years, its role in banking and the economy has expanded.

Today, the Federal Reserve's duties fall into four general areas:

* conducting the nation's monetary policy by influencing the monetary and credit conditions in the economy in pursuit of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates
* supervising and regulating banking institutions to ensure the safety and soundness of the nation's banking and financial system and to protect the credit rights of consumers
* maintaining the stability of the financial system and containing systemic risk that may arise in financial markets
* providing financial services to depository institutions, the U.S. government, and foreign official institutions, including playing a major role in operating the nation's payments system

http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/mission.htm


Well, they do manage to clear a lot of checks......

[notadmblnd]

5. wow, it's screwed up.

They failed to d their jobs. In fact, they intentionally helped to destroy the US economic situation. I wonder; if the Fed is a private entity, can the US government sue them for fraud?

[hedgehog]

9. I really was suprised to see anything in their mission about protecting jobs and

keeping consumer credit rates low. I always figured they were there to protect rich people's assets and to hell with everyone else.

[Mythsaje]

6. No, really?

Color me shocked.

[santamargarita]

7. No shit!

:crazy:

[Warpy]

8. Well, thank you, Captain Obvious

Everything from the "crisis" in Social Security to the health care crisis to the housing crash is because jobs are disappearing and wages are depressed.

I just wonder how long it's going to take our captains of industry to figure out that no matter how many bailouts they get, their industry is going to fail without customers to buy the crap they make.

[DallasNE]

11. Bernanke Just Hurt His Chances For Reappointment

As Chairman of the Federal Reserve. This message sets the wrong tone and will not go unnoticed. Besides, Bernanke was slow to pull the trigger when it was obvious the economy was tanking. The warning signs were loud and clear in October 2007 that rapid cuts were needed and he didn't respond meaningfully until late January 2008. There is already a strong case to made for not reappointing Bernanke and he just threw gas on the flames, meaning he probably never was the right person for the job.

[seabeckind]

14. Nope, gotta call bulls--t on this one.

It worked just the way he intended it to -- and he's got the pedigree to prove it.

He and his ilk have been trying to do this since FDR took away their checkbook.

[Abq_Sarah]

27. So he should lie

Say the economy is just peachy and we need to shut the hell up and stop complaining?

[DallasNE]

32. That Is Not What I Said

So stop trying to put words in my mouth.

What I said is that his background is less than sterling and his tone shows that he is once again behind the curve. His message is 3 months out of date. Does he even get it? I am having my doubts.

[seabeckind]

12. Can't get anything past this guy...

Any chance that we can get HIS job threatened? Oh, and Geithner, Summers, et al. And whoever wants to keep the H1B program.

Maybe we should have a guy who's in a union oversee our recovery. You know, someone who works...or at least knows what it is.

[OwnedByFerrets]

13. No shit, Sherlock.

[jwirr]

17. Oh really! Still does not seem to realize that we are all so broke that

it is going to be a long time before we can spend the way they need us to spend.

[XemaSab]

19. I will proudly provide the 57th "No shit."

:patriot:

[Hydra]

22. We're sorry that we can't provide any more tax money for you to steal, Mr. Bernanke

But if you guys really wanted to keep ripping us off efficiently, you should have kept employment higher than 80%. Less than that, and people start getting nervous.

[Psephos]

24. The Federal Reserve does not receive revenue from the US budget and cannot steal it

You're thinking of the Treasury.

At bare minimum, read the entry on the Federal Reserve at Wikipedia.

[Hydra]

33. I know what the Fed is doing

And if you think they aren't profiting from this...

[No Elephants]

35. Paulson and Hankypanky Bernanke worked hand in glove on the TARP.

[Psephos]

38. I certainly hope so

I despise TARP and the corruption, manipulation, and raw power mongering involved in it.

That said, it would be both insane and criminal not to have Treasury and the Fed coordinating their actions.

This is a digression from what I posted, btw. I pointed out that the Fed cannot "steal our taxes" because it doesn't receive them. That does not close other avenues of mischief to them.

[lexanman]

23. The Federal Reserve

needs to be dismantled and the bankers criminally procesuted for financial fraud and extortion. Kennedy tried to put forth the idea that the Federal Reserve needs to go. Nothing else need to be said on that point. We know the rest of that story.

[Psephos]

25. That will certainly help thaw the credit freeze and restore liquidity through renewed confidence

Or maybe not... :eyes:

What do you suggest we use for a central bank after we've taken a sledgehammer to the Fed?

Or should we go back to the barter system?

[lexanman]

29. You are semi right

The FR is composed of private regional banks, yet they set US interest rates and monetary policy. I suggest we don't have a central bank. Period. And yes the barter system worked out very well for far longer than the idea of money came along, now that you asked.

How is is that a consortium of private for-profit banks set government monetary policy and rates? Do you know what they call that, by the way?

[Hawkeye-X]

28. Ben, immediately report to the WH, hand your resignation, and get the HELL out.

if you're not supporting Obama's policies, then may I make a suggestion and move to Peru. I'm sure they'll love you there.

Hawkeye-X

[tavalon]

30. Damn those unemployed people!

Fucking with our recovery!!!

Do I really need a sarcasm smiley?

[Solly Mack]

31. Gee, you think the two might be related? That the economy might impact employment?

and that people with no jobs not spending money might impact the economy?

I'll go ponder this "new" thinking.

[DebbieCDC]

34. Gee ya think Ben?

What a douche

[No Elephants]

36. How much does Sherlock Bernanke get paid to be this slow?