Bernanke says Federal Reserve will hold off from more quantitative easing
August 26, 2011 No Comment
• Jackson Hole speech dashes hopes for QE boost • Wall Street expects Fed will reconsider next month The Federal Reserve on Friday dashed Wall Street’s hopes of an immediate boost to the flagging US economy when its chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was adopting a wait-and-see approach to fresh stimulus measures. Bernanke’s eagerly awaited speech to fellow central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, proved to be an anti-climax as he failed to repeat his announcement at the same venue a year ago in which he signalled a fresh dose of electronic money creation through the quantitative easing (QE) process. Shares on Wall Street dropped as Bernanke spoke but recovered after investors were reassured the Fed would consider more QE should the US continue to struggle over the coming weeks. The Fed’s key policy committee will now meet for two days rather than one next month to discuss a range of options. By noon in New York, stocks had shrugged off initial disappointment at the Bernanke speech and at official figures showing that the world’s biggest economy grew at an annual rate of just 1% in the second quarter of 2011, a downward revision from the initial estimate of 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 130 points after falling by almost 200 points earlier. The Fed chairman admitted that recovery from recession had been slower than hoped and that short-term growth prospects for the US had been adversely affected by Europe’s debt crisis and by the wrangling between Democrats and Republicans over the US budget. He stressed that any repetition of the partisan in-fighting could make global investors less willing to hold assets or to put money into job-creating enterprises. “Bouts of sharp volatility and risk aversion in markets have recently re-emerged in reaction to concerns about European sovereign debts and developments related to the US fiscal situation, including the recent downgrade of the US long-term credit rating by one of the major rating agencies and the controversy concerning the raising of the US federal debt ceiling. It is difficult to judge by how much these developments have affected economic activity thus far, but there seems little doubt that they have hurt household and business confidence and that they pose ongoing risks to growth,” said Bernanke. Bernanke said economic healing would take time and warned that there could be setbacks along the way. While the Fed was alert to the risks, he said there was also a strong case, despite the poor state of America’s public finance, for the new jobs package being planned by the Obama administration to tackle long-term unemployment. The Fed chairman help for the jobless need not jeopardise long-term plans to cut the budget deficit. “Although the issue of fiscal sustainability must urgently be addressed, fiscal policymakers should not, as a consequence, disregard the fragility of the current economic recovery. Fortunately, the two goals of achieving fiscal sustainability – which is the result of responsible policies set in place for the longer term – and avoiding the creation of fiscal headwinds for the current recovery are not incompatible. Acting now to put in place a credible plan for reducing future deficits over the longer term, while being attentive to the implications of fiscal choices for the recovery in the near term, can help serve both objectives.” Rejecting the idea that slow growth could “morph” into a long-lasting downturn, Bernanke said there had been some encouraging signs, including a 15% rise in US manufacturing output and a narrowing of the trade deficit. “There have been some positive developments over the past few years, particularly when considered in the light of economic prospects as viewed at the depth of the crisis. Overall, the global economy has seen significant growth, led by the emerging-market economies. In the United States, a cyclical recovery, though a modest one by historical standards, is in its ninth quarter.” However, he added: “Notwithstanding these more positive developments, it is clear that the recovery from the crisis has been much less robust than we had hoped.” A second estimate of the UK’s growth performance in the second quarter of 2011 showed no change from the original assessment of a 0.2% increase in activity, a similar rate of expansion to the euro area and the US. Quantitative easing Ben Bernanke Economics US economy Financial crisis Global economy United States Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Bernanke says Federal Reserve will hold off from more quantitative easing
August 26, 2011 No Comment
• Jackson Hole speech dashes hopes for QE boost • Wall Street expects Fed will reconsider next month The Federal Reserve on Friday dashed Wall Street’s hopes of an immediate boost to the flagging US economy when its chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was adopting a wait-and-see approach to fresh stimulus measures. Bernanke’s eagerly awaited speech to fellow central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, proved to be an anti-climax as he failed to repeat his announcement at the same venue a year ago in which he signalled a fresh dose of electronic money creation through the quantitative easing (QE) process. Shares on Wall Street dropped as Bernanke spoke but recovered after investors were reassured the Fed would consider more QE should the US continue to struggle over the coming weeks. The Fed’s key policy committee will now meet for two days rather than one next month to discuss a range of options. By noon in New York, stocks had shrugged off initial disappointment at the Bernanke speech and at official figures showing that the world’s biggest economy grew at an annual rate of just 1% in the second quarter of 2011, a downward revision from the initial estimate of 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up more than 130 points after falling by almost 200 points earlier. The Fed chairman admitted that recovery from recession had been slower than hoped and that short-term growth prospects for the US had been adversely affected by Europe’s debt crisis and by the wrangling between Democrats and Republicans over the US budget. He stressed that any repetition of the partisan in-fighting could make global investors less willing to hold assets or to put money into job-creating enterprises. “Bouts of sharp volatility and risk aversion in markets have recently re-emerged in reaction to concerns about European sovereign debts and developments related to the US fiscal situation, including the recent downgrade of the US long-term credit rating by one of the major rating agencies and the controversy concerning the raising of the US federal debt ceiling. It is difficult to judge by how much these developments have affected economic activity thus far, but there seems little doubt that they have hurt household and business confidence and that they pose ongoing risks to growth,” said Bernanke. Bernanke said economic healing would take time and warned that there could be setbacks along the way. While the Fed was alert to the risks, he said there was also a strong case, despite the poor state of America’s public finance, for the new jobs package being planned by the Obama administration to tackle long-term unemployment. The Fed chairman help for the jobless need not jeopardise long-term plans to cut the budget deficit. “Although the issue of fiscal sustainability must urgently be addressed, fiscal policymakers should not, as a consequence, disregard the fragility of the current economic recovery. Fortunately, the two goals of achieving fiscal sustainability – which is the result of responsible policies set in place for the longer term – and avoiding the creation of fiscal headwinds for the current recovery are not incompatible. Acting now to put in place a credible plan for reducing future deficits over the longer term, while being attentive to the implications of fiscal choices for the recovery in the near term, can help serve both objectives.” Rejecting the idea that slow growth could “morph” into a long-lasting downturn, Bernanke said there had been some encouraging signs, including a 15% rise in US manufacturing output and a narrowing of the trade deficit. “There have been some positive developments over the past few years, particularly when considered in the light of economic prospects as viewed at the depth of the crisis. Overall, the global economy has seen significant growth, led by the emerging-market economies. In the United States, a cyclical recovery, though a modest one by historical standards, is in its ninth quarter.” However, he added: “Notwithstanding these more positive developments, it is clear that the recovery from the crisis has been much less robust than we had hoped.” A second estimate of the UK’s growth performance in the second quarter of 2011 showed no change from the original assessment of a 0.2% increase in activity, a similar rate of expansion to the euro area and the US. Quantitative easing Ben Bernanke Economics US economy Financial crisis Global economy United States Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A large explosion struck the United Nations’ main office in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja today, flattening one wing of the building. A UN official in Geneva called it a bomb attack. “I saw scattered bodies,” said a UNICEF worker at the building. “Many people are dead.” He said it felt…
Continue reading …A freshman GOP rep from Florida is taking some heat after suggesting his salary isn’t worth the dangers of his job in the wake of Gabrielle Giffords’ shooting, the loss of income from his family business, and the lack of free health care. “They’re shooting at us. There is law-enforcement…
Continue reading …
President urges people in projected path of hurricane to ‘take precautions now. Don’t wait. Don’t delay’ Barack Obama has warned Americans to take hurricane Irene seriously and urged them to obey orders to evacuate from the path of what is likely to be an “extremely dangerous and costly” storm. “All indications point to this being a historic hurricane,” Obama said in a statement to reporters from Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Fifty-five million people are potentially in Irene’s path, from the Carolinas to Cape Cod on the US east coast, and tens of thousands are evacuating as cities including New York brace for the powerful storm to hit. “I cannot stress this highly enough. If you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now. Don’t wait. Don’t delay,” Obama said. The White House said Obama would depart from his vacation in Martha’s Vineyard on Friday evening, one day earlier than planned, and return to Washington. Obama’s wife and daughters will travel back as planned on Saturday. Obama has held regular conference calls with aides on the storm, in a determined effort to learn from the mistakes of his predecessor George W Bush, who was heavily criticised for an ineffectual response after hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans in 2005. “All of us have to take this storm seriously … If you are given an evacuation order, please follow it,” Obama said. Hurricane Irene Barack Obama Natural disasters and extreme weather United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Home secretary agrees to police request for ban of march planned through one of UK’s biggest Muslim communities The home secretary has agreed to a police request to ban the far-right English Defence League from staging a march through one of the UK’s biggest Muslim communities in east London. Theresa May said she would outlaw any marches in Tower Hamlets and four neighbouring boroughs – whether by the EDL or any other groups – for the next 30 days, having “balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected”. She added: “I know that the Metropolitan police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and properties are protected.” Police sought the ban after the EDL – which has seen widespread public disorder at earlier rallies – planned to march on 3 September through Tower Hamlets, which has a significant Muslim community, many of Bangladeshi origin. In a statement the force said it made the request following information that prompted fears that the march could cause “serious public disorder, violence and damage”. It added: “Tactically we believe this is the best option to prevent this.” Chief Superintendent Julia Pendry warned EDL supporters to stay away. “We have made this decision [to seek the ban] based on specific intelligence and information, and our message is clear: we do not want people coming into the areas to attend these events.” The march had been vehemently opposed by community leaders, among them the two local MPs and the borough’s mayor, as well as a series of Muslim and Jewish groups. Fears that it could spark violence were exacerbated following this month’s rioting in many parts of London . The EDL emerged in Luton, another strongly Muslim area, in 2009. While it purports to oppose “Islamic extremism” the group insists it is not racist. However, its marches, aimed mainly at Muslim communities, have been seen as extremely provocative. A Guardian investigation into the EDL found repeated racism and threats of violence among supporters. Nick Lowles, director of the anti-extremist campaign group Searchlight, called May’s decision a victory for common sense. He said: “The EDL clearly intended to use the proposed march to bring violence and disorder to the streets of Tower Hamlets. Their plan has been foiled.” The veteran campaigner Peter Tatchell said that while he abhorred the EDL, he believed the ban was a “complete overreaction” and would prove counter-productive. He said: “I’m not sure we can defeat anti-democratic groups like the EDL using anti-democratic methods like banning marches. A far better tactic would be peaceful counter-marches and exposing the views of the EDL to public scrutiny.” Earlier this month May banned an EDL march through Telford, although the group was still able to congregate. Opponents urged the home secretary to follow suit in east London, particularly after links emerged between the EDL and the Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik . The gunman repeatedly praised the group in his rambling manifesto and claimed he had hundreds of EDL supporters as Facebook friends. The EDL insisted any admiration was one way and it did not condone his views. The group has struggled for legitimacy, even amid evidence it has picked up supporters as the better established far-right British National Party has been beset by internal divisions. According to Searchlight, the EDL has active support from people involved in earlier far-right groups, including the even more extreme Combat 18 and National Front. In February it attracted some unexpected support from the Daily Star newspaper , which tacitly endorsed its anti-Muslim views and said 98% of its readers supported them. But this lasted less than a week, with the paper’s owner, Richard Desmond, saying it had been done without his knowledge. English Defence League Police London The far right Theresa May Daily Star Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Jesse Jackson lashed out at the Tea Party at a Martin Luther King Jr. memorial event, comparing its ideology to old states’ rights arguments against integration. The movement “is not new,” he said at the crowded luncheon in Washington. “It’s just a new name for an old game.” In an…
Continue reading …The Harley-riding outlaws of the Hells Angels are on the warpath—over trademark infringement. The organization is suing a fashion house over women’s T-shirts that say “My boyfriend is a Hells Angel,” reports the Los Angeles Times . “We bring these lawsuits from time to time not just to punish but…
Continue reading …
UN warns of ‘grave breach of human rights’ if Travellers are forced to leave their homes as standoff over Essex site intensifies On one side stands the UN, two bishops, three rabbis, Vanessa Redgrave, activists from Sweden, and 400 Irish Travellers. On the other stands Basildon borough council, many local residents and the coalition government. The battle over the future of Dale Farm, a former scrapyard that has been home to 86 families for the past decade, will intensify this weekend prior to Wednesday’s deadline for the Travellers to leave the site or face forcible eviction. The UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination examined the case in Geneva this week and the UN’s special rapporteur on housing, Raquel Rolnik, has warned that the evictions could “constitute a grave breach of human rights if not carried out with full respect for international standards”. The escalating standoff illustrates the discrimination faced by Travellers and a national shortage of suitable pitches, according to supporters of the Dale Farm Travellers. For their opponents, the long-running dispute shows the inadequacy of the law to deal quickly with flagrant planning transgressions. On Saturday, activists from across Europe will form Camp Constant, a live-in protest on the greenfield site, close to Basildon, in an attempt to stop bailiffs bulldozing Travellers’ homes in an operation that could cost up to £18m. Basildon council has set aside £8m for the eviction with an additional police bill of up to £10m, subsidised by £4.65m from the Home Office if required. “For the government to pay money to make these people homeless is criminal,” Lord Avebury, a Liberal Democrat peer, said. “I can’t believe that my own government will persist with such a cold policy.” Travellers have pledged to create a non-violent human shield to protect 100 children on the site and stop the bailiffs, but the council, and some campaigners, fear violent scenes. “There is bound to be violence because bailiffs themselves are using violence to bulldoze their homes,” the Gypsy campaigner Grattan Puxon said. “We hope that people will respond to that peacefully and use a human shield, but people should understand that the violence will come from the bailiffs in the first instance.” Travellers own the land at Dale Farm but, while half the site is legal, residents failed to win planning permission to live on the other half. Dale Farm resident Mary Ann McCarthy said Travellers would move if the council helped identify alternative pitches nearby so their children can continue to attend the local school. One application for an alternative site has been rejected, while another is still to be heard. A last-minute injunction against the eviction will be heard by a high court judge next week, while Dale Farm will be visited by the actor Vanessa Redgrave, the Catholic bishop of Brentwood and the bishop of Chelmsford. The Right Rev Stephen Cottrell, the bishop of Chelmsford, said: “If evicting children is the answer then we must be asking the wrong question. Whatever the legality of the situation, instead of asking how can we get rid of these people we should be asking how we can help them find permanent and stable homes.” Redgrave said: “The UK signed and ratified the UN convention on the rights of the child. I am certain that the eviction of the Dale Farm Traveller families is illegal under international, mandatory, human rights conventions. I am appalled that such an eviction can be upheld by our government.” Stephen Horgan, the deputy leader of Basildon council, said it was “absolutely absurd” to accuse the council of discrimination against Travellers when Basildon provides more authorised Traveller sites than neighbouring councils. “We believe in housing all sections of our community and we’ve done that,” he said. “We’d like some of the local authorities around us who have done nothing for the Traveller community to pitch in.” According to the council, Dale Farm applications were rejected because the council enforces “without fear or favour” against anyone who builds on greenbelt land. “We have to protect our greenbelt in the south,” Horgan said. “We cannot say a particular ethnic group is allowed to build on the greenbelt and no one else is.” McCarthy said the Travellers were frightened and several were suffering serious health problems. “Everyone is feeling very sick,” she said. “We’re not bad people. We have no machine guns. We want no trouble. We just want to be left where we are or be found another suitable place to live.” The council said the eviction process would not be “gung-ho” and it would meet its “statutory homeless duty” and provide every resident with a council property in Basildon. According to McCarthy, the homes offered are “very run down”, and the Travellers want to continue living in traditional caravans and mobile homes. “That’s our culture,” she added. “The idea that vulnerable people will be left by the roadside is nonsense,” Horgan said. “These heartrending images have no basis. I can understand if Travellers don’t see their long-term future in bricks and mortar. In the short term, no human rights are going to be breached.” Communities Local government Housing Planning policy Local politics Liberal-Conservative coalition Liberal Democrats Conservatives Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …As Hurricane Irene makes it way toward North Carolina, where it’s expected to make landfall early Saturday morning, video footage of the storm is beginning to surface. The storm weakened to a Category 2 as it reached Florida’s waters, the Associated Press reported, but it could pick up steam again. The video below appears to
Continue reading …