Well, Now We Know The Fed's Priorities... And It Ain't Us...

[WillyT]

What’s on Ben’s mind?
Reuters
APR 27, 2011 16:17 EDT

<snip>

We’ve created a quick and dirty word cloud of what Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in his historic press conference this afternoon. Words he used more often are larger than less-used words. For bonus points try to find the word “jobs” in there:



Link: http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2011/04/27/whats-on-bens-mind/

:wtf:

:mad:

:kick:

[Phoenix63]

1. Funny how most people missed that speech...

Oh wait, it was the same day the Birth Certificate got released....

[dkf]

2. What is the Federal Reserve's mandate in setting monetary policy?

"The Congress established two key objectives for monetary policy--maximum employment and stable prices--in the Federal Reserve Act. These objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve's dual mandate. The dual mandate is the long-run goal for monetary policy, and the Congress also established the Federal Reserve as an independent agency to help ensure that this monetary policy goal can be achieved. The independence of the Federal Reserve in conducting monetary policy is critical to guaranteeing that monetary policy decisions are free from political influence and focused exclusively on achieving the Federal Reserve's dual mandate. For example, a problem experienced in many countries without an independent central bank is that elected officials have put pressure on monetary policymakers to follow policies that boost the economy in the short run even if doing so would result in high levels of inflation later on. The Federal Reserve's dual mandate and the provisions for the independence of the Federal Reserve are two key factors that help guard against such outcomes in the United States."

http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/money_12848.htm

[WillyT]

4. Correct !!!

"The Congress established two key objectives for monetary policy--MAXIMUM EMPLOYMENT and stable prices--in the Federal Reserve Act. These objectives are sometimes referred to as the Federal Reserve's dual mandate."

Notice that "Maximum Employment" is mentioned first.

:shrug:

[dkf]

12. Yup.

[bvar22]

23. No.

That may be in the brochure,
but The FEDs primary objective is to cover any losses the RICH may incur when they gamble unwisely
on Wall Street.



"By their WORKS you will know them."

[johnaries]

3. I see "unemployment" and "employment". Aren't those the same

as "jobs"? :shrug:

[WillyT]

5. Where Do You See "Employment", I Can't Find It...

let alone "jobs".

:shrug:

[emulatorloo]

8. For starters, look right next to "growth"

What are jobs if not employment?

[emulatorloo]

6. Don't confuse me with the facts.

You are going to get in the way of a big DU "Me Too" rec fest.

[WillyT]

9. Ah... I Found It... Still Can't Find "Jobs" Though...

:shrug:

[emulatorloo]

19. See Below: "Bernanke: Recession hit lower-income people most"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1000424&mesg_id=1000565

This is turning into a "Can't See the Forest for the Trees" moment.

First as we have all pointed out to you "unemployment" and "employment" have to do with Jobs.

Second you are obsessed with some kind of dumb-ass web gimmick that doesn't reflect the actual content of the speech. (see the link)

I love gimmicks too.

[pinqy]

24. Nope, not the same.

Let's say you have 95 people working, and 5 looking for work. Your Labor Force is 100 people, and your Unemployment rate is 5%. But 10 people working have 2 jobs and 5 people have 3. So the economy has 115 jobs, but you only have 95 people employed. If more jobs open up, some of them might go to people who already have a job, or they might go to the unemployed, or they might go to someone who hadn't been looking for work, but starts looking, applies, and gets a job before you count again.

[patrice]

7. Ever time I see these, I think the cloud is cute and all, but wouldn't it communicate more if

we could see the words in order from largest to smallest?

[WillyT]

10. Good Point... It's All About "The Cloud" These Days, I Suppose...

:shrug:

[patrice]

16. LOL! Yes "it" is!

:hi:

[emulatorloo]

11. Even that wouldn't necessarily tell us anything.

since it is all about the context. There were probably lots and lots of "The" and "of" in his speech. Would that mean he though the most important thing was "The"? Of course not.

The cloud is cute. I think Du'er over read these things - time better spent on reading the speech.

[patrice]

14. The best situation would include both reading and discourse analyses. Failing that, I'll se

settle for even a rough discourse analysis and, of course, they're filtering for things such as articles and prepositions which ARE indeed significant. But at least the clouds can be question generators and that alone is worth a significant emphasis.

It would be fun to see frequency distributions for things such as modifiers (excluding articles), prepositions, and transitional devices - separate from the noun and/or verb distributions, to get some estimate of the complexity of a statement. So many people speak in straight declarative sentences, without any conditions or qualifiers.

[patrice]

15. On second thought, the difference between "a(n) _________" and "the ____________" is

can be meaningful, so now I'm curious about the articles too.

[patrice]

18. Some of us aren't that interested in necessarily telling anyone anything, but rather

suggesting tools by means of which they can discover their own questions and environments in which they can, are allowed to, discover answers that are relevant to their own lives.

[ProSense]

13. Bernanke: Recession hit lower-income people most

Bernanke: Recession hit lower-income people most

WASHINGTON – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday called for more lending to people and small businesses in lower-income neighborhoods, saying they've been disproportionately hurt by the recession.

Many of the nation's poorest communities were struggling before the downturn, Bernanke said at Fed conference on community development in Arlington, Va.

The recession officially ended two years ago. Bernanke said the national economy is growing at a moderate pace and that job creation is gradually improving, repeating comments he made earlier this week at a news conference after the Fed's policy meeting.

But the unemployment rate remains high. For many poor and working-class Americans, it doesn't feel like a recovery.

<...>

Tax revenues can then be spent in the community redeveloping vacant properties, training people for new jobs, or on other economic development programs. That leads to more hiring and paychecks that can help poor homeowners avoid foreclosure, he said.

<...>

Maybe Democrats can use this speech to counter Republicans. First, raise revenues. Second, invest in job creation.

[emulatorloo]

17. So looks like that "cloud" is a more like bad fog n/t

[BobbyBoring]

20. This part scares me

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday called for more lending to people and small businesses in lower-income neighborhoods, saying they've been disproportionately hurt by the recession.

When they do loan to lower incomes now, they absolutely gouge them on the rates and they never get out of debt

[Taitertots]

21. Inflation, prices, unemployment, employment, and recovery

Sounds like the Fed's priorities are exactly as they should be. Stable prices and maximum sustainable employment.

[JoePhilly]

22. A Wordle used to prove "priorities" ... it does not get much dumber than that.