Tough Criticism for Bernanke

... a B-. Going forward, Bernanke needs to do two things. First, he has to wean the economy and financial institutions away from excessively low interest rates. Many think that low interest rates support economic activity; indeed that is the theory. But in fact, such persistently low interest rates encourage leveraged ...

Wessel Answers Questions on the Changing Fed

... that the economy was in a lot worse shape than he had anticipated. That's why he and his Fed colleagues rushed to cut interest rates by a steep 1.5 percentage points in January 2008. They were trying to catch up. Moreover, he and others didn't realize that ...

Black Communities Struggle with Soaring Energy Costs

... mortgage or the kitchen lawsuit. DARLENE MANSWELL: The prices got high in addition to struggling. But when you're struggling at one point, when the bill used to be 100 and something dollars, we can pay it. But now that that the bill is $200 or $300, it's just ...

What to Pay?

ZENA GARCIA: Couldn't pay the full bill of my light bill this month. I only paid partial. JEFFREY KAYE: So every month you get behind on one thing or another? ZENA GARCIA: Um-hmm. JEFFREY KAYE: To help people like Zena Garcia, advocates for the working poor have campaigned ...

Iraq crisis another foreign policy complication for Obama

... President Obama for what kind of president Clinton would be both have to do with foreign policy -- and both indicate a slightly more hawkish, more interventionist approach. Clinton, a champion of “Smart Power,” also offered this when asked about a “Clinton doctrine”: three Ds -- defense, diplomacy, and development. McCarthy emerges ...

Why bond yields are rising and why everyone should care

Rising yields have caught the attention of policymakers around the world, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who last month announced an unusual intervention in the bond market to restrain rising yields. Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, said Bessent's moves and Warsh's promise to corral ...

News Wrap: Israeli election exit polls show Netanyahu may return to power

... in prison. Halloween night gun violence has claimed the life of Grammy-nominated rapper Takeoff. One third of the group Migos and born Kirshnik Khari Ball, he was fatally shot outside a bowling alley in Houston early today. He was 28 years old. Hours earlier, in Chicago, a drive-by ...

Using a numbers-based approach to end political gridlock in ‘Moneyball for Government’