Fed: Hey, the Economy Is Growing Slower than We Expected
by PubliusFrom the Associated Press:
The Federal Reserve acknowledged Wednesday that the economy is growing more slowly than it expected. But it said it will complete its $600 billion Treasury bond buying program by June 30 as planned and announced no further efforts to boost the economy.
Ending a two-day meeting, the Fed repeated a pledge to keep interest rates at record lows near zero for “an extended period,” a promise it’s made for more than two years.
Fed officials said in a statement that they think the main causes of the economy’s slowdown, such as high gas prices and supply disruptions from Japan’s disasters, are temporary. Once those problems subside, Fed officials said the economy should rebound.
But at a news conference after the statement was released, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged that some of the problems slowing the economy could persist into next year.
“Maybe some of the headwinds that are concerning us, like weakness in the financial sector, problems in the housing sector … some of these headwinds may be stronger and more persistent that we thought,” Bernanke said. He was responding to a question about whether more permanent factors had led to the dimmer outlook.
Initially, the Fed announcement had little effect on the stock and bond markets. But stocks fell later in the day, shortly after Bernanke acknowledged that some of the problems affecting the economy may go beyond temporary factors. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 80 points for the day.
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108 Comments
The fact that they're mentioning problems affecting the economy may go beyond temporary factors surprises me… that's about as close as a Fed chairman will come to saying "government policy is fouling things up, and continuing to do so" as they get. After all, normal downward pressures on an economy are cyclical in nature and thereby temporary.
This smacks of Bernanke saying "hey, it's not my fault, it's these clowns on Capitol Hill and in 1600 Pennsylvania" in the most cautious, diplomatic way possible.
AAAAAAAAAAAAH!
I'm so tired of hearing from the "FED" experts. Including that MORON, Ubama, that will speak tonight on all of the "networks."
Let's face it. Ben can't justify this absurd Keynesian disaster, foisted by bully style policy, upon millions of productive American citizens. His hubris, narcissism and fear prevent him and all his fellow groupthinkers from moving in the right direction. Look for 'Ben' on the bartender's name tag. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk
well if you're going to watch — please don't watch on NBC
That's my take — and at this point why should he be giving cover.
Time after time after time after time, the FED keeps saying that the economy is recovering. Yet time after time after time, they keep the interest rate at zero, basically saying that it is not recovering. I have savings that are drawing almost no interest while the Banks get money from the FED at ZERO interest and loan it out at 28%. What is that saying about speaking with forked tongue?
"It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it." George Washington
Why is anyone listening to this turd when he says anything remotely positive. It's crap!
Here is what one man says on him, written and posted on Market-Ticker.com and titled "Ben Bernanke, You Stupid Bastard" http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?singlepost=2424...
This is all a set up for the Fed Reserve to print more money and sell more bonds and go into full quantative easing mode. They going to make believe that they have no choice but to save US from a bad economy. Poppycock!
They are trying to finish the job of bankrupting America! Also do you think there aren't benefits to this? Everyone at the top of the food-chain here benefits……….. We're being set up by the usual suspects! Where's the outrage?!
If they are admitting it is slow… 'scuse me "saying" it is slow we can all be safe in assuming that things are a lot worse. I am going to say it, I know many will disagree but oh well… we are now officially in a depression.
Im coming to the realization that the only way for this country to turn around is for a collapse and complete restart. We ARE IN a depression, the powers that be are afraid to say it b/c they are not ready to deal with US streets mimicking Greece etc! I do not believe based on what I am seeing and hearing things can be fixed. There is way too much corruption from the local to fed level; they have done way too much damage to be fixed from this deficit cutting policy to those spending cuts etc etc. You weed out some bad seeds in one part and there are 100x more in another area. The longer the news unfolds as to what is going on the worse it gets.
Im a realist see things for what they are knowing there is more beneath the surface good or bad… all I see day after day is extremely bad news.
If you're reading this you are the resistance SavingtheRepublic.com
Trust me. THAT network will NEVER show up on my TV.
Duh!!
Knuckle Dragging…
Welcome to the Club
I'm going to have to disagree…. but I can't say for sure what it is should be called.
Something completely unrelated… what's worse than a depression?
By reading this article and the statements from the mental midget Bernanke, I've come to the conclusion I could run the FED without any problems whatsoever. And to think, these morons are suppose to be the economical experts.
Because the Fed is supposed to stay away from the political side of things. Bernanke knows he got a little too close to the political with TARP and QE, and the last thing he needs is to give Congress further reason to tread on his turf (and rightfully so, a Fed in the pocket of the legislature or the executive would be the death knell of the dollar).
Bernanke speaks….the DOW plunges.
It seems like every time Bernanke opens his mouth, the economy gets worse.
RIGHT HERE pnipni, I am OUTRAGED! I'm also outraged that not more people are getting this…. too much Survivor and Dancing with the Star's
The SMOKE & MIRRORS… continues!
Go away Gentle Ben… you pathetic sad-sack!
; (
uhhhhhhhhhhhhh Armageddon?
Do the Rothchilds and Morgans wanna cry about it? (Of course not, they'd rather just print more money and further enslave us all to them).
What annoys me is Bernake didn't say anything that wasn't already known or suspected so WTF with the market tanking towards the end of the day? Down 70 points in about 20 min; Bernake should be flogged. It was nice run for a few days then this genius had to piss in the beer.
The grain markets were down the limit today, as well.
.
Please don't teabag, I looked it up in google and it's gross. Like something a liberal would do. Maybe that why they use the term all the time. I have noticed they smile a lot when they say it. hmmmm
But otherwise I agree with your statement about the economy.
"Fed officials said in a statement that they think the main causes of the economy’s slowdown, such as high gas prices and supply disruptions from Japan’s disasters, are temporary. Once those problems subside, Fed officials said the economy should rebound."
and
"“Maybe some of the headwinds that are concerning us, like weakness in the financial sector, problems in the housing sector … some of these headwinds may be stronger and more persistent that we thought,” Bernanke said."
Biggest crocks of sh!t I have heard today.
OBAMA and his destructive policies are the headwinds, jackwagon! Get rid of him, get a REAL conservative in there and in the House and Senate and you'll see the economy start to pick up, just like it did under Reagan and just like it did under Harding and Coolidge.
He's talking again tonight? About what?
I don't want to watch it unless he's resigning.
I know about the baha'i…
Will Alex Jones discuss it…
LOL
Uhbama just requested more carbon credits for Air Force One junkets, so you peasants in the mid-Atlantic sacrificial region have to cough up your offerings. Oook. How's that "hope and change" working out for you?
I'm with you. We need a complete restart in this country. All people now in office must immediately resign. Based on their records, a handful maybe permitted to basically interview for the job, but most are forbidden to hold any kind of public office again for as long as they live.
We hold new elections, with Voter ID and strict oversight. Debates are conducted by the kind of people who will ask the hard questions and the responders will be given plenty of time to respond so that we don't have 30 second sound bites, but real information.
We can also have a Constitutional Convention and get rid of the income tax amendment and the direct election of Senators and any others that have helped to ruin this country. Add a BBA and term limits on Congress.
The economy will rebound AFTER obummer exits or he adopts conservative policies…Right…
Looks like two more years of this OKeynesian economic folly .!
Ann
This is a very looog nightmare…
How many times will the American public have to hear, "experts were puzzled" or "experts say it is worse than expected" before they realize that the "experts" went to the Elmer Fudd school of idiocy?
These Ivy League morons who demand that they be called "Doctor" or whatever, are the naked emperors who are told by their sycophants how great and wonderful they are, but in truth, they are ignorant little twits who couldn't even fix a flat tire on their car – or even know how to use a jack. They are leeches, living on the fat of the working people, sucking them dry. Our constitution prohibits titles of royalty, and it's time to call these "experts" morons. They represent Elmer Phd. Their degree is worthless. I judge them by the content of their character, not by their empty words. And in that judgement, they fail. They fall flat on their faces. They make eggheads seem bright.
Alex Jones can kiss my ass..
LOL
I don't think they listen to us. If they did, this nightmare would have been over 2 years ago.
Love that word …"jackwagon"…Has good impact, without being the least bit obscene..
Like, Obama, you're a big dumb"jacko**"…HeHe..
Ann
Word that work !!
You can thank R. Lee Ermy for "jackwagon" and the Geico commercial.
;-D
Don't'cha know that the economy can ONLY recover under a Dem (even if every single number and stat is negative), and it can ONLY be in recession under a Republican (even if every single number and stat is positive).
/sarc off
The sad part is that Real AMERICANS will actually adjust their behavior to make money no matter what the government does – unless the government KEEPS changing the rules to try and catch all the profit they can (which the Dems ALWAYS do!!). That's why even if they put in a dictatorial policy/rule/regulation/law – Real Americans will work around it and the money making PRIVATE economy will eventually grow again.
So EFF this bunch in the WH now.
Love that American icon !
Ann
R. Lee for Pres…!
Obama is a puppet to the FED. The FED is a puppet of the IMF. The IMF is a puppet to the Builderburgs. The Builderburgs are puppets of the Rothschild's. I left quit a bit out because, I do not wish to be typing the rest of the evening. But this pretty much sums it up.
DITTOS!
> time after time after time, the FED keeps saying that the economy is recovering. Yet time after time after time, they keep the interest rate at zero, basically saying that it is not recovering.
Just like the lost Japanese decade. Sigh. Bureaucrats convinced they can solve something with 'brute force control'.
THE ECONOMY ISN'T GROWING YOU IDIOT.
Withdrawing troops from Afghanistan.
Americans are NOT going to elect Dr Demento (RP) for Pres….
You freaks are sounding more and more like Lyndon LaRouche tribalists with every post.
Politically confused, hopelessly nieve, and painfully ignorant of, well most everything important…..
Ann
RP for Mayor of Houston !
"I spent some time with the highest tenured faculty member at Chicago Law a few months back, and he did not have many nice things to say about “Barry.” Obama applied for a position as an adjunct and wasn’t even considered. A few weeks later the law school got a phone call from the Board of Trustees telling them to find him an office, put him on the payroll, and give him a class to teach. The Board told him he didn’t have to be a member of the faculty, but they needed to give him a temporary position. He was never a professor and was hardly an adjunct.
The other professors hated him because he was lazy, unqualified, never attended any of the faculty meetings, and it was clear that the position was nothing more than a political stepping stool. According to my professor friend, he [Obama] had the lowest intellectual capacity in the building. He also doubted whether he was legitimately an editor on the Harvard Law Review, because if he was, he would be the first and only editor of an Ivy League law review to never be published while in school (publication is or was a requirement)."
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/2010/03/chic...
Helps explain why we're in the mess that we are. We have an affirmative action dunce who was elected based on the color of his skin rather than his qualifications or accomplishments. Even by Martin Luther King Jr's standards of judging a man by the content of his character rather than the color of his skin, Hussein would fail. He was the only congresscritter to vote against the Infant Born Alive Protection Act. The only one. And this is a spineless eunuch that almost always votes "present", the cowards vote, but when it came to stripping infants of their God given rights he mustered the courage to vote against it.
Hussein is a stain on this nation.
Indeed it is. The only benefit for some of us who did survive the economy of the 70's is knowing just how rainy that rainy day can be. The one everyone always says you ought to save against, just in case…
I feel badly for the younger folks who have either just recently tried to start their adult/financial lives or are soon to be entering the job market…
That's great, tell the enemy your plans and negotiate with them at the same time.
~facepalm~
Perhaps he should be telling Congress what's going on in Libya.
Thanks for the link… Not being one to swear, anymore… unless… anyway, I still find it enjoyable to see a deserving individual, such as befuddled Ben, have a new orifice ripped.
I'm guessing that you pnipni and Stan have seen this link, Avoiding the Credit Cliff by Paul Ryan but it not…
You'd think the lessons of the Great Depression and Japan's Lost Decade(actually decades) would have been learned by the likes of our elitist academic economist class. History is overwhelming Bernanke and non-business class clown posse in the White House. Pathetic isn't it that markets swoon in sync with the High Priest's every utterance.
Bernanke has no Plan B now that a consumer driven recovery will never happen. That's where he fired all of his ammunition. He'll nuance and mutter his way through the next two years.
Ron Paul's point that the Federal Reserve needs to be dismantled needs to be publically debated.
Preach it, brother. Right on the button and no other way to spin it.
Seems when one is an ECON 101 flunkie, living in an ivory tower somewhere in academia, everything they hear about or "see", that goes against their warped worldview, is "puzzling" and "confusing"…
Little Timmy Geithner is a perfect example. Narrow minded, greedy, and corrupt..
Any common sense poster on this board could set this Country on the right track, inside of 3 months.
Yet we continue down the wrong dirt (big government) road with flat tires.
It ain't workin'…
Can you imagine Obama or Geithner popping the lug nuts on the flats? HeHe …Rich..!
Ann
Stuck on stupid sissies..
Are they REALLY surprised? The whole lot of 'em should be fired for doubling down on stupid or for deliberate sabotage.
Yup, the Sun Tzu is
weaknonexistent in this one. Lady K, I know you remember when The Φ finally decided to send more troops to A'stan, after pondering the problem for months, that he announced to the opposition that the troops would only be in A'stan for an 18 month period…I think Uncle Jimbo, aka Jim Hanson, mentioned this sterling example of The Φ's strategery in a piece at Big Peace today.
Yeah, the expected and predictable duplicity of the establishment …
Don't forget to tack on a taxpayer bill-of-rights that puts a cap on how much the Federal government can tax the citizenry and exactly what they can use those revenues for. Entitlements, subsidies, aid to illegal immigrants, etc. all should be strictly prohibited. (If the courts attempt to intervene, then slap limits on them) Also, both gerrymandering and lobbying need to be made illegal as well. The only special interests our elected officials should even be listening to are those of their constituents and nobody else. Lastly, make Congress part-time, cut politicians' salaries, benefits and other perks and limit what legislation can be passed when they're in session. No more garbage bills that have nothing to do with conducting the people's business. If they want to honor some person, group or organization, then let them do it on their own time, not on the taxpayer's dime.
It must mean the statutory rapists of individual rights and freedoms were wrong and are guilty of robbery with legislative weapons!!! Their ink upon paper becomes a way to rob, cheat and pillage the multitudes!!! They must be held accountable, if not they will run the table upon all who gamble with them and their theology!!! Your bank will be broken, their game is rigged to favor them and their aspirations!!! They get powerful and wealthy, all their subjects get poor and weak!!!
Don't forget, the projections of cost for Obamacare used a LAUGHABLE increase of the GDP of 4.5% annually. Smoking too much Obamugabe crack
By a reckless, ill informed, delusional segment of the electorate who should refrain from voting ever again in penance.
How much money does the Federal reserve cost taxpayers when a three year old could have told us this news.
"
PatriotInsane, ravening, barking moonbat media like Alex Jones….."TFTFY
Like Instapundit says: "Unexpectedly!"
Thank God Stan! We are being "played" while our elected officials are turning a blind eye. The deceitful manipulations of this Admin are despicable.
Heh heh! "admin" didn't like my comment… Was it the use of the word cr*p, or the fact that I quoted the Constitution in full context as to how it relates to CONgressional evasion of political accountability? From the document itself:
"To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;"
Article I, section VIII, paragraph V…
Passing the buck?
WT/WS
I don't think a Ron Paul for President would fix this…
But I'd sure as hell like to turn him loose on the FED as its Chairman in 2012…
I hope we have a plan to clean the blood off the walls afterward…
"requested more carbon credits"
That sounds as stupid as it is. Buffoons all.
And immediately rescind the exec order that made public unions legal. The coffers must be dried up as quickly as possible. Also make a law that Unions have to collect their own dues–NO withdrawals from paychecks at all. Also, every state passes Right to Work legislation. Ask for the moon while we are at it!
"the position was nothing more than a political stepping stool."
political stool
and he stepped right in it
he stinketh
WTH, mebbe administrator don't like the Constitution?;-D
Perhaps he's one of the Elite Ruling Class and thinks we need him to interpret that document for us?
How dare you be able to read and quote that document!!!
I wouldn't think cr'p would cause you to be d'd… $#iT, I've seen worse than that on here today. Meb'be
he don't like snarling pups?
Happy Trails, GF!
(W&T)
My view is, the people are squeezing the leaders in DC to stop the spending. Right now all the power brokers are sticking it to Americans, and going to make them pay for not silently going along for the ride. It isn't that subtle either. From the explosion in back handed tactics from the regulatory arm, to crush small business to the Orwellian Double speak by the Head Bankster, this crap is getting way outta hand. Bernanke said, cutting federal spending will not help the economy. Is this CLOWN FOR REAL?!?!?! UNEFFINGBELIEVEABLE !!!!
He was counting on "the rich" to fill that in with tax money.
We have passed the point now lk where we can't make it back. Talking and voicing opposition had zero impact. The vote in Nov. 2010 had zero impact. Obama now ignores the Constitution with his wars, DOMA and the New Black Pampers.
The Fed is his masked thief, stealing all of the money of the American people and it is gone…………gone to the very people who have fought, plotted and planned to take us down financially. They have accomplished that.
Greece is going to look like a vacation spot come winter compared to here. The people will have no choice pretty soon, fight to save their freedom or fight in a few years to get it back after the USA becomes the totalitarian state they all want.
Obama just did this Executive order during the Wiener distraction. Agenda 21 is now active and going "on line". This is the single worst thing I have read in the past year:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/does-the-new-whit...
I am putting my money and tin foil hat on the sabotage!
This is comical. The Fed is never at a loss to try to "TALK" the markets up or down at any moment in time.
All you need to know is this: What they're going to "DO" is print more money. Print lots and lots more money. QE2 is ending. They need cover for QE3, so a) they need the markets to throw a tantrum and b) maybe they'll put a new label on it other than QE3.
Bottom line: More money printing coming. Higher prices. Dollars in savings and wages will buy less and less.
It's just that simple.
Believe it or not, earlier when I made that post AlGore was in the news with his Climate Change-Global Warming hoax and of course to hear it at the time fell right in line with Obama's Hope N' Change myth. These articles come up sometimes at the strangest times. LOL
"We ARE IN a depression".
A depression kind of implies we're close to the bottom. From your other comments, it's obvious you don't believe we're close to the bottom, and neither do I. Provided we do all the right things, this is still going to get much worse, and take some time to right itself. If we do the wrong things…
Thanks Thale! I actually hadn't read it, but it makes all the sense in the world.
The Dem Socialists are colluding to finish US off and install their Socialism. . God, I pray for a bloodbath this election. Anyone but Obama. They've got their second, and final Act ready to go. We must stop them.
Agreed ladykrystyna! Give US our Reagan. We need it now!
That's part of his plan, and he's going to make it worse by printing more money and doing more destructive quantative easing until the U.S. is irretrievably bankrupt and total Socialism can be installed by this anti-American Admin.
Great stuff! I agree with all of it, especially the part-time thing (Texas Legislature only meets like every 2 years I think). Yeah no big salaries and perks.
Yup, you've got the idea now!
Hey, if you don't ask you don't get!
But yeah, unions need to be reigned in for sure in the private sector and in the public – NO UNIONS. Even FDR understood that concept.
Alex Jones has been reporting on the collapse of the economy for a few years. Its seems Fox is more in line with his thinking.
Jones is a rather bad reporter relying on hyperbole and "conspiracy theorists". His coverage of the RNC meeting a few years ago was deplorable. Hyperbole about Nazi references, concentration camps, the Fuji blimp spying on everyone with xrays (which only work at short range BTW and require a back drop). Then he spouts about the Illuminati and that pretty well shovels the last pile of dirt on his grave.
QE wasn't political. It was a classic Friedman move.
Saw the Agenda 21 story. Freaky.
The problem is this: it sounds really bad to those of us who are paying attention and actually give a crap.
For most people, it doesn't even register. Why? Because they aren't really feeling the pressure, the shove. Even if they are unemployed and noticing the gas prices, they aren't seeing the underlying agenda. To them, it's just another election, swing the pendulum the other way and keep going. We need a big Awakening in order to get stuff done.
That's why I was even calling for civil disobedience, for a New Declaration of Independence, delivered to all levels of gov't, and peaceful rallies all over the country, in every big city and capital and even small towns. We can rotate people if we need to or even help out our brothers and sisters who are unemployed so they can go. Whatever works.
Be seen, make a stink (again, peacefully), but push the envelope just enough to see what the Obama regime will do.
I wasn't alive for the Civil Rights Movement, but I believe that anybody who at first thought it was wrong changed their minds when they started seeing hoses and dogs being used on otherwise peaceful people.
I almost think that is what we need now, and before the 2012 election. It may push the GOP into nominating the right person for the job and even help our side win the election and even hold the House and take the Senate.
Maybe. I don't know.
I'm with you in the sense that I think we are in bad times, mostly because the GOP right now has no cajones whatsoever (golfing with Obama – WTF?!). But I'm trying to think of ways that we can perhaps bring us back from the brink with little violence (at least on our part).
Who's borrowing at 28%?
We not only need someone like that, we need to Restore our Honor so that we don't make the same mistakes again.
Our Constitution was made for a moral people. We need to get back to that. We need to awaken ourselves, as Beck has been saying for a long time. And he's so right. We can't just change who's in office, we need to change ourselves.
You use the word cr*p? You're grounded young man!
With respect, Bernanke came in before The Marxist. He genuinely thinks that Keynesian economic principles work. He's used TARP and QE I and QE II as fiscal experiments. I don't think he's planning to do what The Marxist is doing, he's just a fool enough to be dangerous.
Why should we trust a guy who doesn't know where we are or how we got here to tell us what we need to do to get where we want to be?
How is it we still bother with experts on the economy? When GW Bush was president, the continous good news about the economy was always "unexpected". Now with the new guy in charge, bad news is always "unexpected". If experts are going to be wrong 100% or the time, maybe they aren't experts but rather idealogues.
Assuming Keynsian economics will work, and supply-side Adam Smith/Milton Friedman economics will fail will make you always wrong on the economy.
duh
I'd rather take a good "dump" than listen to Bernake!
"The Federal Reserve acknowledged Wednesday that the economy is growing more slowly than it expected."
like the weatherman who finally looked up from his charts, computers, radar screens, NWS updates and peeked out the freakin' window. "gollllllllleeee- it IS raining!"
speaking of R. Lee Ermey, i was at a trade show a couple weeks ago and he was there doing a public appearance. the line to meet him went out the door- all day long. he would spend a couple minutes with everybody, chatting, getting his picture taken, etc. i was there on business and didn't have time for that stuff, but i did talk with a rep from the company who sponsored him and he said the guy is an absolute prince to deal with. on his feet all day, virtually no breaks, and is as nice to the folks at show's close as he was when the doors opened.
"maybe they aren't experts but rather idealogues. " -ya think?
and as has been ruefully, and repeatedly, observed, if was a white conservative the MSM would have dug up every last molecule of dirt on him. black liberal? nothing to see here……….
Ask rogueecon. I don't understand why people thumb me down for writing a 100% factual comment.
Step down Mr. Bernanke.
First mandate: Do no harm.
You failed.
This guy couldn't figure out how to pour piss out of a boot if the instructions were written on the heel.
Perfect timing.
Hey! Are we TAXPAYERS paying for his scamming offsets?
One would think that at least ONE of the man-made climate hoax people would have the grace to feel some shame and blow a whistle somewhere. Gore may have them mysteriously disappear–or he may just cal them and bore them into submission.
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