Aug 09 Watch Fed’s Rate Freeze Punctuates Day of Wild Market Trading The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that it expects to keep its key interest rate near zero for the next two years, where it's been since December 2008. Judy Woodruff discusses how the markets reacted to the announcement with Mesirow Financial's… Continue watching
Apr 27 Watch Bernanke Spotlights Political, Economic Challenges in Historic News Conference In hopes of further revamping the Fed's secretive image, Chairman Ben Bernanke held the first-ever regularly scheduled news conference in its 98-year history. Jeffrey Brown discusses his remarks with Columbia University's Joseph Stiglitz and Matthew Slaughter, who served on the… Continue watching
Apr 13 Watch News Wrap: Federal Reserve Reports Economic Growth Across U.S. In other news Wednesday, a Federal Reserve report said the U.S. economy improved in every part of the country. In Pakistan, intelligence officials reported U.S. drone aircraft killed six suspected Taliban fighters near the Afghan border. The attacks come two… Continue watching
Jan 26 Watch News Wrap: House Passes Bill to Halt Public Financing for Presidential Campaigns In other news Wednesday, the GOP-led House passed a bill that would end public financing for presidential campaigns. Republicans said it would save $617 million over 10 years. Also, the Federal Reserve said it will maintain efforts to boost the… Continue watching
Dec 15 Why Doesn’t the U.S. Just Print More Money, Rather Than Borrow? By Paul Solman Paul Solman answers questions from NewsHour viewers and web users on business and economic news most days on his Making Sen$e page. Here's Wednesday's query: Name: Bill Turner Question: Why does the U.S. borrow so much instead… Continue reading
Dec 15 Why Doesn’t the U.S. Just Print More Money, Rather Than Borrow? By Elizabeth Shell Name: Bill Turner Question: Why does the U.S. borrow so much instead of printing as much money as we need? Paul Solman: Superb question. Two responses. Response 1: First, mightn't you borrow if you could get today's rate: a 30-year… Continue reading
Nov 17 Economics is Missing A Funny Bone | An Interview With ‘Merle Hazard’ By Elizabeth Shell The [Fed's announcement](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/11/fed-slow-growth-disappointing-will-engage-in-second-round-of-quantitiative-easing.html) of another round of so-called "quantitative easing" (QE2) is much in the news. Basically, it's an announced commitment to create $600 billion dollars or more of new "Federal reserves" - i.e., U.S. dollars - and [pump them… Continue reading
Nov 11 American Debt and The Chinese Government: A Match Made in Purgatory? By Elizabeth Shell Editor's Note: The United States is in debt to the tune of $13.7 trillion. But for what, and to whom? Basically, the debt is the result of more spending that saving at every level, from individual households to businesses to… Continue reading
Nov 11 U.S. Debt and the Chinese Government: A Match Made in Purgatory? By Elizabeth Shell The United States is in debt to the tune of $13.7 trillion. But for what, and to whom? At its core, the debt is the result of more spending than saving at every level, from individual households to businesses… Continue reading
Nov 08 The Fed’s $600 Billion Move: Monetary Debauchery? By Paul Solman Forgive me for not answering a question today, but for posting a note about the Fed. Its decision last week: to purchase a further $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter… Continue reading