por admin » Mar Oct 04, 2011 9:08 pm
Bernanke de taquito le paso la bola al Congreso y Obama: La Casa Blanca y el Congreso comparten la responsabilidad de la recuperacion de la economia.
Bernanke advirtio de que la economia estaba "faltering" (perder confianza, debilitarse).
Bernanke Issues Warning, Urges Action on Economy
By JON HILSENRATH And LUCA DI LEO
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned the U.S. economic recovery was "close to faltering," and said Congress and the White House had a "shared responsibility" with the central bank to respond.
Such dire warnings are a gamble for Fed chiefs—or any leading policy maker for that matter. Mr. Bernanke wants to spur action in Washington, but he doesn't want to undermine fragile household and business confidence with gloomy talk.
Even so, Mr. Bernanke said the tumultuous talks to raise the debt ceiling in August unsettled investors and that the steps Congress has taken so far to reduce the long-run deficit have been inadequate. Even the $1.5 trillion budget-deficit reduction that a congressional supercommittee is assigned to produce by November won't be enough, he said. "More will be needed to achieve fiscal sustainability."
Speaking Tuesday before Congress's Joint Economic Committee, Mr. Bernanke's called on Congress and the White House for better policies to shrink the federal budget deficit in the long run without cutting too aggressively right away.
While fiscal policy is critical. Mr. Bernanke said, Congress needed to find new ways to jump-start the housing sector, promote trade and improve an overly complex tax code. "Fostering healthy growth and job creation is a shared responsibility of all economic policy makers, in close cooperation with the private sector," he told the bipartisan congressional panel.
Needed actions include coming up with a long-term plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are now being run by the government, finding ways to make it easier for households to refinance mortgages and making it easier for banks to rent out properties they have come to own on defaulted mortgages.
Mr. Bernanke's remarks suggested the central bank itself wasn't moving quickly toward new measures to jump-start economic growth.
Since August, the Fed has taken several steps it hopes will foster more investment and spending by pushing already-low interest rates down even more. The central bank has said it is likely to keep short-term rates near zero until at least mid-2013. It also announced a plan to reijgger its securities portfolio so it holds more mortgage bonds and long-term debt than previously planned. Those steps are meant to keep credit cheap.
The Fed's move to increase its share of long-term bonds "is particularly important now that the economy is, the recovery is close to faltering," Mr. Bernanke said. He noted that job growth has slowed from earlier in the year, economic output is growing more slowly than officials expected and risks of a European financial crisis have made markets more volatile.
In a next step, the Fed could engage in another round of government bond purchases, known generally as quantitative easing. But Mr. Bernanke saidadded, suggested it wasn't on the front burner, saying, "We have no immediate plans to do anything like that." It's possible the Fed will pause for a while and assess the impact of its earlier actions
Investors globally have grown alarmed about the risk of financial chaos spreading from Europe—where banks are exposed to the shaky finances of Greece and other governments. Mr. Bernanke listed that as one of many threats to the U.S. economy.
Ben Bernanke urged U.S. lawmakers to do more to help the economy; however, he was careful to not send any new signals about a possible QE program, WSJ economics editor David Wessel reports on Markets Hub. Photo: Reuters.
.In response to questions, Mr. Bernanke said Americans were "innocent bystanders" to Europe's problems. If there is another financial crisis, Mr. Bernanke said the Fed would try to keep markets stable by providing abundant short-term credit to banks that need it and also make dollars available to other central banks as it has been doing since the 2008 crisis. But he said there wasn't anything the Fed could do to fix Europe's problems.
Mr. Bernanke faced what has become regular criticism from Republicans at the hearing. Rep. Mick Mulvaney, a South Carolina Republican, said the Fed's low interest-rate policies were enabling government budget deficits by making it so cheap for the government to borrow. Mr. Bernanke retorted, "I don't think that's a valid point," arguing it was up to Congress to control its own purse.
Republicans also pressed the Fed chairman on the risk the central bank could be stirring inflation with its efforts to pump money into the financial system to bring down interest rates. Mr. Bernanke dismissed such worries. He said a spurt in consumer prices earlier this year was already receding and that unemployment was a bigger threat.
"Right now, frankly, we're much further away from full employment than we are from price stability," he said. With that comment was a hint: The Fed might not be hurrying to do more to help the economy right now, but it is still leaning in that direction.
Mr. Bernanke also pointed more bluntly than usual at China, saying its undervalued currency is impeding a global recovery by hurting exports from China's trade partners. His remarks came as the Senate was considering legislation that would punish China for keeping the value of its currency low.
Highlighting the need for the government and the central bank to work together to aid the economy, Mr. Bernanke said the recent protests in New York against Wall Street show that Americans are "dissatisfied with the policy response here in Washington." He showed some sympathy for the demonstrators: "At some level, I can't blame them," he said, pointing to an unemployment rate that remains stuck above 9.0%.