Bernanke: Juice the economy 'quickly'

[Lone_Star_Dem]

Source: CNNMoney

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday that legislators should enact a fiscal stimulus package in order to help beleaguered consumers as recession fears grow.

<snip>

"To be useful, a fiscal stimulus package should be implemented quickly and structured so that its effects on aggregate spending are felt as much as possible within the next twelve months or so," Bernanke said in his prepared remarks.

<snip>

Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers told lawmakers at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee on Tuesday that Congress should immediately consider a stimulus package of $50 billion to $75 billion through a combination of tax cuts and increased spending on unemployment benefits and other programs. He also advocated that another $50 billion to $75 billion be set aside in case economic conditions weaken further.

Bernanke cautioned though that any stimulus "should be explicitly temporary" in order "to avoid unwanted stimulus beyond the near-term horizon and, importantly, to preclude an increase in the federal government's structural budget deficit."



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/17/news/economy/fed_bernan...

[Javaman]

1. shoveling more money into the fire...

How about tax cuts for the middle class and raise the taxes on the rich.

Then have a bundle of money as an economic stimulus program for alternative energy?

trickle down DOES NOT WORK.

[ORDagnabbit]

2. its called inflation....print more money out of thin air....all fiat currencies end this way...

[ixion]

3. "tax cuts and increased spending on unemployment benefits"

that isn't going to fix it, sorry.

[bemildred]

4. Time for another "injection" of cash, eh? nt

[Lone_Star_Dem]

8. That appears to be the plan

Coupled with his promise for more rate cuts.

It's the old 'bandaid on a gushing wound' technique. In the end the corporations will get the biggest break. Meanwhile the taxpaying worker will be expected to carry the brunt of the bill while dealing with rising consumer inflation and stagnate wages.

[bemildred]

9. Yeah, the "we need a bigger monkey on our back" approach. nt

[Turbineguy]

5. John Campbell (R-CA)

Needs to get his facts straight.

Stagflation was not invented and caused by Jimmy Carter. From Wikipedia:

"In the early 1970s, two shocks are said to cause the spiraling prices that resulted in the Nixon-era price control programs that were put in place in response to "stagflation." The first was the failure of the Peruvian anchovy catch, a major source of fertilizer for the world. The second was the success of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in constraining the worldwide supply of oil. Both resulted in actual or realtive scaricty of raw materials.

One counter argument to those theories that is worth noting is that Nixon first imposed Wage and price controls on August 15, 1971, but the first oil shock was not until October 17, 1973.

Under this set of theories, the solution to staglfation is restore the supply of materials. In the case of a physical scarcity, stagflation is mitigated either by either finding a replacement for the missing resource(s) or by developing ways to increase economic productivity and energy efficiency so that you can produce more with less input. For example, in the late 1970's and early 1980's the U.S. economy responded to the temporary scarcity of oil by both increasing its energy efficiency and by ultimately bringing more oil extraction on-line. This along with changes in monetary policies helped end stagflation."

Policies set in motion during the Carter Administration brought an end to "stagflation".

[tom_paine]

20. Campbell is just another Bushie liar, betrayer of and enemy of America

He knows EXACTLY what he is saying is a lie. He just doesn;t care and he knows that no more than 0.01% of the Imperial Subjects of Amerika will even notice he's lying. By repeating it enough, the Bushie Lie becomes Conventional Wisdom...for the 1,000,000th time.

[displacedtexan]

6. Translation: We f&*ked you all; Now Fix it before the election, damn it!

Bernanke was Mr. Rosy Real Estate, and now we're supposed to believe he
cares about the economy?

Sheesh!

[BootinUp]

16. I don't think they can turn it around that fast

best they can do is slow the bleeding.

[displacedtexan]

21. Right.

They don't really want to solve the problem.

They've just decided to shift into overdrive, in order
to dilute the issue until after the election... when they
can start blaming Dems.

SOP.

[asjr]

7. I really think things are much

worse than we know. In my part of Middle TN jobs have been lost more than in years. Empty buildings abound, some over 2 years. If a job is listed in the paper there may be 75 or 80 applicants for it. And of course in some small towns it is who you know rather than what you know that gets a job.

[Solly Mack]

10. I'm a person.

"beleaguered consumers"

Sheesh

[JBoy]

11. Just inject some more oil into the economy

Like a Butterball turkey.

[Akoto]

12. Lets throw $75 billion at our money loss problems! Brilliant! n/t

[peace13]

13. Let it ride *ssholes.

You have broken our back with this war. You have robbed us blind.

[bemildred]

14. End the war, that would be a big help to the economy. nt

[Rebellious Republican]

15. I can think of several things that would help....

1. End the war, use that money for real tax cuts for the middle class, and services for the poor, so that we can afford to shop at Walmart once again.

2. Ask Bush and Cheney's Ranger buddy CEO's and coporate officers to do the patriotic thing and take massive pay cuts, so that the surplus money can be put into higher wages for their employees. There again allowing us to go back to shopping at Walmart.

Just those two items alone would do the trick nicely, but WTF do I know, I am no Bernanke.




P.S. The Walmart comments are just a little for who are not sure.

[flashl]

17. Just where will this $100B be taken? This admin has cannibalized nearly every federal agency.

[KansDem]

18. Isn't "juice" death-house movie slang for execution by electrical chair?

As in "Rocko gets the juice tonight!"

Hey, Economy! You're walkin' that Last Mile tonight! Warden Bernanke says so!

Dead mon(etary system) walkin'!

[Zorra]

19. Impeaching Bu*h and Cheney would stimulate the economy immediately.

The world would become a one giant week long mardi gras.

[wishlist]

22. Stock market fell after he said he favors targeting low income spenders

Investors and ideological Repubs must be disappointed that he did not advocate making tax cuts permanent and other Republican suggestions that only help the wealthier while making our long term deficit worse and failing to provide any quick stimulus. Instead he clearly stated that the fastest most effective stimulus for the economy is putting money and food stamps in the hands of people with lower incomes right away because they are the most likely to spend it.

[sinkingfeeling]

23. Bernanke: Get money to the people

Source: Cnn.com

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Thursday that legislators should enact a fiscal stimulus package in order to help beleaguered consumers as recession fears grow.

Bernanke cautioned though that any stimulus "should be explicitly temporary" in order "to avoid unwanted stimulus beyond the near-term horizon and, importantly, to preclude an increase in the federal government's structural budget deficit."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com /

---

I know that this has been posted under different headings, but this is the first that says the Fed Chairman is urging 'giving money to the people'.

[HeraldSquare212]

24. I'm so mad that our elected officials feel they need his approval

remember that Greenspan threatened Clinton, telling him if he didn't make deficit reduction a priority he, Greenspan, would keep interest rates high and put a brake on the economy. There's got to be a better way.

[KansDem]

25. Sounds great, Ben! Can I have one of those Baghdad-bound pallets with billions in cash?

Or just a bundle of $100 bills will do nicely.

Give it to me before Georgie loses it!

Hey, ain't "compassionate conservatism" great!

[earthside]

27. Pouring Gasoline on a Fire

I'm afraid Democrats in Congress are going to go along with this, too.

A big stimulus package is what you need in a full-blown recession ... but it is not what we need right now.

We've got a nine trillion dollar federal government debt, the dollar is losing value daily -- a huge influx of more printing press money is just going to accelerate inflation. And bad inflation is much more psychologically devastating than a recession (all that money you worked for becomes worthless ... think about that).

But corporatized politicians have a tough time thinking outside the box these days -- if a stimulus package of rebates and tax cuts worked in the past it will work again, right?

I'm afraid that there isn't much that can be done that will ease the economic difficulties we are about to face. My idea would be to cut taxes for folks making under $75,000, match that with a double amount of cuts from the Pentagon budget, and say very firmly that the Bush tax give-aways to the wealthy elite are going to expire - period.

The aim is to help struggling Americans, but make it clear that dealing with the ocean of red ink, the public and private debt crisis is the first priority. That might restore some confidence.

But if Dems and Bush go for a $150 billion printing press run, then we're going to be in for a real disaster.

[MadHound]

26. And where are we supposed to get this money for more tax cuts?

Oh, yeah, borrow it This is the same sort of shit that helped get us in this mess to begin with. Applying the same won't help matters, it will just make them worse.

Tell you what, let's halt the war funding, and then funnel that money into a stimulus package.

[natrat]

28. like that scum sucking pos has any clue, what a joke

[fascisthunter]

29. He Really Means: BLEED AMERICANS DRY

Bankrupt this Government for Generations so we can deregulate at will.

[cdsilv]

30. "And of course in some small towns it is who you know rather than what you know that gets a job."

Pretty much that way anywhere these days....

[fascisthunter]

31. It's Like That in Most Corporations Too

kinda the root of the problem, dontcha think?