Live Blogging Janet Yellen

Posted: October 21, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Live | Tags: , | 3 Comments

I am absolutely thrilled to be preparing to bring my live blog of former FRB SF President Jane Yellen who is one of the most significant women leaders in economics and finance of our time.  Dr. Yellen was the Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors under President Bill Clinton. She is currently the Vice Chairman of the Fed system.
She’s speaking at the Financial Management Association conference today in Denver.  She is receiving the outstanding Financial Executive Award.

She notes that the recovery is disappointing.  She plans to discuss monetary and fiscal policies that can help the US economy.  She is mentioning that the recovery has improved things since the worst of the recession. But, she still says the economy is less vigorous than desirable.  Recent data says the recession was deeper than thought.

She believes that the temporary factors from the Japanese tsunami that disrupted the auto industry and high gas prices have moderated.  She believes that the restricted access to credit, consumer sentiment, and weak consumer spending is creating  concern among business people.  This has made businesses reluctant to expand their operations.  The housing sector continues to depress the economy.  The housing sector has historically played an important role in improving economic conditions.  This is not happening this time.  There are a lot of factors causing this.

Yellen believes that states are also playing a role in restraining the pace of recovery.  She’s believes that the path of fiscal policy is weighing on both household and business confidence.  The one bright sector in the US economy has been exports but this is not going to continue.  She believes this is due to both the EU situation and the slow down in developing nations’ economies.

She says that financial markets are experiencing unusual volatility which is putting pressure on financial institutions and investors.  The US economy as well as slow growth abroad is part of this.  Also, the EU situation is troubling markets.  She believes that the political considerations in trying to develop and implement solutions to the EU problem is creating stress.  She thinks this could cause a retightening of credit conditions and could impact US financial institutions.  She believes that also the deterioration of the US economic outlook could put stress on banks too.

Yellen is now talking about the outlook for inflation.  She believes that any recent inflation was due to oil and other commodity prices being volatile, and also due to the Japanese earthquake and that inflation will moderate.  She believes that the target inflation rate will be attained.  She believes also that long term inflation expectations remain stable and is more concerned with disinflation or deflation.  She thinks that the risk of that is much higher.

Yellen is speaking now to the dual mandate of the Fed and monetary policy.  She is giving some background on the zero bound policy.  (She’s on the FOMC, btw.)  She’s also speaking to the importance of fomc clarification on monetary policy and the role they have reassuring the market they will keep interest rates low given the current conditions of subdued output.  She is also talking about how a communicated target rate based on employment or inflation might give the market more confidence on the stability of the low targeted fed funds rate.

She expects that unemployment and the economy will improve even though there are significant downside risks.  She says the FOMC is watching things carefully and will use tools as appropriate.

She is now taking questions from the floor.  The first one is basically about the give and take between signals to and from the market and the FOMC on setting market expectations for inflation.

Okay, I need to go prepare to present something so I’m leaving you with this now. Hopefully, this will give you some insight into the FOMC.

Take care

Live Blog: The Jobs Speech

Posted: September 8, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Live | Tags: , , | 94 Comments

Well, what kind of bedtime story will be read from TOTUS tonight?

The US labor market is in shambles and we need a big, bold plan like the sort FDR delivered during the Great Depression.  How likely are we to get even a smidgin of that?

Here’s some thoughts from some Congressional Democrats:

Millions of people are waking up every morning without a job and with dwindling hopes of finding one. Their faith in the American Dream is flagging. Their aspirations for a middle class life are being dashed.

This is a national emergency. Unemployment is unacceptably high, more than 9 percent, with more and more Americans slipping into poverty. The number of children in poverty has climbed to nearly 15 million, a moral outrage that must be remedied. Economic despair is afflicting Americans of all stripes — urban and rural, blue and white collar, those with advanced degrees, high school diplomas and GED.’s alike. They haven’t failed; their leaders have failed them.

For communities of color, the pain is even more acute – a 15.9 percent unemployment rate for African-Americans and 11.3 percent for Latinos. Youth joblessness is also persistent (a staggering 25 percent unemployment rate for those age 16 to 19), as qualified young people move into a job market that has nothing to offer them but rejection letters and crushed hopes.

The size of the federal budget deficit is not keeping the American people up at night ; they’re worried about how to pay for groceries. That’s what members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus found when we traveled across the country on a jobs tour this summer, listening to struggling Americans and seeking to elevate their voices over the misleading noise from Washington. Members regularly heard from families struggling to stay afloat, losing their homes, and emptying their savings just to pay the bills.

It’s time for their challenges to become the nation’s challenges. Republicans have proven uninterested in real job-creation efforts. An early glimpse at their so-called jobs agenda reveals little more than additional tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations, a rollback of environmental regulations and continued attacks on labor rights.

It’s up to the president to offer an ambitious proposal designed to have an immediate and lasting impact. All members of Congress should support a plan that can create good jobs — putting money in people’s pockets that they can pump back into the economy.

This was written by REP. BARBARA LEE & REP. KEITH ELLISON & REP. LYNN WOOLSEY & REP. RAUL GRIJALVA at Posted at Politico.
Other Democrats are equally outspoken. But will they act to see the President doesn’t propose yet another luke warm Republican plan that they’ve jettisoned in the past?  Maxine Waters wants to know if Obama is more concerned about high unemployment in the black community or Iowa primary voters?


We’ve heard Democratic criticism on the President’s plans in the past.  But when the time comes to fight for Democratic policies, they all fold and vote like sheep.  Let’s sit back and listen to what will undoubtedly be another speech with a few bad ideas that get passed and a few good ideas that will never have a chance of getting beyond rhetoric.


Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Teleprompter of the United States …

Rising Tide 6: Blogging Live

Posted: August 27, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Live, New Orleans | Tags: , | 66 Comments

Good Morning!

While all of you on the east coast are dealing with Irene, those of us in New Orleans that lived through Katrina are still dealing with the aftermath.  This is the sixth annual conference of social activists and bloggers in New Orleans–called Rising Tide– who are still trying to see New Orleans recover and become all the promise the city holds.  We’re at Xavier University and if you want to follow along with any of the sessions, there’s a webcast here. It’s much bigger this year which is really good to see.

I’m listening to the morning keynote speaker:

Tulane University geographer Richard Campanella is the author of six critically acclaimed books on the physical and human geography of New Orleans, including “Bienville’s Dilemma,” “Geographies of New Orleans,” and “Lincoln in New Orleans.” The only two-time winner of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Book of the Year award, Rich has also received the Williams Prize for Louisiana History and the Mortar Board Award for Excellence in Teaching from Tulane University.

We’re up to around the civil war when Lincoln used to refer to us as the sugar coast.  It’s interesting to hear the history of the city from the first settlement forward and how our neighborhoods or ‘fauborgs’ have come about.

So, I’ll be updating this now and then today.  I’d really suggest you tune in later this afternoon to the webcast because there will be two fun sessions on the live webcast.  One will be on New Orleans Food and cooking and two great chefs will be speaking on the panel.  The other one is a panel on brass bands followed by a concert.  I’m hoping to network with some of my twitter buddies and fellow social justice advocates!

So, if you hang around, I promise you’ll feel like you’re part of making the Big Easy’s future grand!

Live Blog: Breaking News in Libya

Posted: August 20, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Breaking News, Foreign Affairs, Libya, Live | Tags: , , , | 22 Comments

You may not have heard the news from Libya, but it appears that Rebel and NATO forces have entered Tripoli and it may mean the end for Ghaddafi.  Most of the sources I’ve found are coming from the foreign press and are being tweeted.  CNN and Fox have yet to switch to the story although I just read a tweet from Don Lemon that he’s excited the story is breaking on his shift because he gets to cover it.

Here’s some coverage for you to check out.  I’ll try to keep some of the links updates through out the evening.   You can find similar news on twitter at .

Libya Live Blog from AJ:

Sounds of gunfire and explosions are becoming more intense in the Libyan capital Tripoli, according to a witness who spoke to the Reuters news agency.

Residents reported fighting in several neighbourhoods and said opponents of Muammar Gaddafi were in the streets.

From CBS News:

Heavy gunfire and explosions rattled the Libyan capital Saturday after rebels seized control of a major coastal city just west of Tripoli. Rebel commanders said the firing in the capital signaled the start of an attack on Muammar Qaddafi’s main stronghold.

Gun battles and rounds of mortar shelling were heard clearly at the hotel where foreign correspondents stay in the capital. Explosions were heard in the area as NATO aircraft carried out heavy bombing runs after nightfall.

Col. Fadlallah Haroun, a rebel military commander in their stronghold of Benghazi said this marks the beginning of Operation Mermaid – a nickname for the capital city – an assault on Tripoli coordinated with NATO.

Haroun told The Associated Press that weapons were assembled and sent by tugboats to Tripoli on Friday night.

“The fighters in Tripoli are rising up in two places at the moment – some are in the Tajoura neighborhood and the other is near the Matiga (international) airport,” he told the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera.

Alarabiaya English

In his announcement on Libyan state TV, government spokesperson Moussa Ibrahim also said the rebels that entered Tripoli on Saturday night will be “pardoned if they surrender,” adding a message to the Libyan audience: “Qaddafi is your leader … Tripoli is surrounded by thousands to defend it,” suggesting the rebel advance on Tripoli has not shaken the regime.

Rebels are continuing to battle for the government-controlled Mitiga airbase in Tripoli in the early hours of Sunday. Fighting has left an unknown number of insurgents dead in the suburb of Qadah and elsewhere, an opposition activist in Tripoli told Reuters.

“The rebels have surrounded a military airbase called Mitiga in the Tajourah district. The rebels there are telling the brigades that they come in peace to avoid bloodshed. There are areas where electricity has been cut off,” he said.

Report to watch from AJ on the damage from the bombing.

Interesting Tweets:

BrianWildeCTV BrianWilde
When you have to announce it, the end is near. “@Reuters: Gaddafi remains ’s leader: spokesman reut.rs/qrPdQ8”

pedroelrey pedroelrey
Is Now-ism killing news? : Gadhafi likely wounded and has fled Tripoli haaretz.com/news/internati…

Henrique Henrique
amazing to see that only Al Jazeera English is broadcasting what is happening in right now…Nothing on CNN, FOX, MSNBC or even BBC!

richardengelnbc Richard Engel
US sources say revolt seems to have ‘certainly turned a corner’

iyad_elbaghdadi Iyad El-Baghdadi
Fresh map with overview of all action; shows clearly how Gaddafi is cornered: bit.ly/nK2fKK @acarvin

OmarAlMukhtar Omar Al Mukhtar
Our war is not with U Gaddafi fighters, but w/ a family who destroyed for 42 years. Lay down ur weapons & join ur brothers. #Unite

MabusharkhMahmoud Abu Sharkh

Mosques all over #Tripoli now chanting Allahu Akbar after they knew the revolutionaries entered the city #Libya

Hanzabonanza Hana Tuhami
Wouldn’t it be really ironic if Gaddafi fell on the day of his Al-Fateh revolution? #Feb17

evaottesmith evaottesmith
RT “@PeterClifford1: Former PM, Jalloud, defects to Opposition & now believed to be in Europe. tinyurl.com/PCOLibya”

There appear to be Tweets coming from within Libya which is really interesting to follow. The channel is now overwhelmed with Tweets just from the last few minutes.

Watch Al Jzazeera English here. 

There’s a live report coming from Tripoli now and the reporters are saying that it’s getting close to ‘zero hour’.

Somber Obama meets the Press: Live Blog

Posted: August 8, 2011 | Author: | Filed under: Barack Obama, Live | Tags: , | 57 Comments

Without taking any questions, President Obama addressed the state of the U.S. economy and the deaths of US troops this weekend.  The DJ dipped below 11,000 briefly while the President was speaking.  Obama said the country will always be a AAA country and quoted Warren Buffet who has said the country is AAAA.  However, this is a serious sell off and there’s a realization that there’s something wrong with the US economy.  The bond market is holding up better than the stock market which indicates that there is more concern about the economy than the US ability to pay debt. This was clearly an attempt to send a message to global markets and to US citizens that are panicked about a possible second recession during a period when we have clearly not recovered from the last one.

Obama asked for extensions for unemployment insurance and the payroll tax holiday.  He additionally said that his administration would be making recommendations to the super congress.  He called for expenditures on infrastructure.  He also wants to see ‘modest adjustments’ to Medicare.

The president says Washington didn’t need a downgrade to realize that it has a problem. “Our challenge is the need to tackle our deficits over the long term,” he says. (1:56 p.m.)

Obama says the debt agreement reached was “historic,” but that there isn’t much more that can be done to reduce defense or discretionary domestic spending.

He suggests “tax reform that would ask those who can afford it to pay their fair share,” and “modest” adjustments to health care programs like Medicare should be the next step. (1:57 p.m.)

Next, Obama calls on Congress to “put what’s best for the country ahead of self interest, ideology or party.”

He says he will present his own recommendations on how to proceed. “That committee will have this administration’s full cooperation.” (1:58 p.m.)

Continuing to discuss the economy, Obama says the country’s “most immediate concern” is jobs. If the government can deal with the deficit, there would be “more room” to pursue proposals that can get the economy growing faster, he explains. (1:59 p.m.)

Obama calls on Congress to extend the payroll tax cut “as soon as possible,” saying Republicans have agreed to do so countless times in the past.

The president then recalls the earthquake in Japan and unrest in the Middle East that have resulted in higher gas prices. “How we respond to those tests, that’s entirely up to us,” he says. (1:59 p.m.)

Obama recalls the earthquake in Japan and unrest in the Middle East that have resulted in higher gas prices. “How we respond to those tests, that’s entirely up to us.”

“Markets will rise and fall, but this is the United States of America,” he says. “No matter what some agency may say, we’ve always been and always will be a triple-A country.”

The market plunge stabilized during the speech, but appears to be back on its downward spiral. It’s back below 11,000 again.  There was little was no new information so that would be expected.

The President also mentioned the deaths of 30 US troops and 7 Afghani in that Chinook helicopter. A Pentagon statement today mentioned that the catastrophic nature of the disaster means that the remains are not identifiable.

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