Saturday, February 21, 2004
Fed officials on the campaign trail
Reuters:
That Bush won't be re-elected. No, that's not it!
Right. Except we've heard this before, and the economists keep being "surprised." And in the long run, we're all dead!
Oooh, I feel better already!
Except, you dingy, in this round it's the skilled jobs that are being exported, and so all the money we've already spent is down the tubes (unless we're still paying it back).
Balance this!
Why can't we outsource the CEOs? And the economists?
A chorus of Federal Reserve officials tried on Friday to reassure Americans that new jobs will emerge to replace the millions of jobs lost in recent years, but warned workers must add skills to stay competitive. "There is a palpable unease ...
That Bush won't be re-elected. No, that's not it!
... that businesses and jobs are being drained from the United States, with potentially adverse consequences for unemployment and the standard of living of the average American," Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan told a Chamber of Commerce group in Omaha, Nebraska.
"We have seen encouraging signs of late that the labor market is improving," Greenspan said. "In all likelihood, employment will begin to increase more quickly before long as output continues to expand."
Right. Except we've heard this before, and the economists keep being "surprised." And in the long run, we're all dead!
Fed Governor Ben Bernanke, speaking to reporters after addressing an economics group, declined to be drawn into a debate on whether a controversial White House forecast for 2.6 million jobs this year was realistic.
He said it depended upon when corporations decided they have "exhausted productivity gains," meaning they could no longer squeeze more output from their existing work forces.
Oooh, I feel better already!
"So I express the view that hiring will strengthen significantly this year, but I wouldn't want to put a number on it," Bernanke said.
In the long run, Greenspan said, part of the answer was that workers must ensure they have the skills to move ahead...
Except, you dingy, in this round it's the skilled jobs that are being exported, and so all the money we've already spent is down the tubes (unless we're still paying it back).
... and to reduce the imbalances in the supply between those who have the skills and those who do not.
"Those imbalances have the potential to hamper the adjustment flexibility of our economy overall," Greenspan cautioned. "The single central action necessary to ameliorate these imbalances and their accompanying consequences for income inequality is to boost the skills, and thus earning potential, of those workers lower on the skill ladder."
Balance this!
Why can't we outsource the CEOs? And the economists?
