Sponsored Links
Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher said Wednesday said that "significant" obstacles stand in the way of overcoming the full effects of the 2008 financial crisis and the roadblocks to economic recovery.
Speaking before the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, Fisher said that widespread concern about the nation's financial situation are keeping banks from expanding their books and payrolls and becoming willing to lend again. He also noted that the concern is making consumers hesitant to spend money.
Fisher also called on federal officials to take steps to improve the country's financial situation.
"I pray the president and the Senate and the House will set aside their parochial and partisan interests, stop kicking the can down the road and get on with the disagreeable but sound business of getting us out of the financial cul-de-sac they and their predecessors have driven us into," he said, according to prepared remarks.
Fisher added that that concern over the risk of Congress politicizing the Fed is adding to business and consumer hesitancy.
He also said that Social Security and Medicare might pose massive liabilities.
"Off balance sheet, there lie two massive, unfunded liabilities not accounted for in the conventional budget accounting of the federal government - most significantly, Social Security and the government obligations of current Medicare programs," he said.
Fisher added, "According to our calculations at the Dallas Fed, that unfunded debt of Social Security and Medicare combined has now reached $104 trillion - trillion with a "T" - in discounted present value. And while much attention in recent years has been devoted to Social Security, the lion's share of the total entitlement shortfall (nearly $90 trillion) actually comes from Medicare."
The Dallas Fed chief went on to say that making "fiscal position of our country sound again falls on the shoulders of the Congress."
Continuing to discuss the nation's lawmakers, Fisher also stressed the importance of the Fed maintaining its independence in contributing to a strong and sustained economic recovery, telling his audience to be wary of recent House legislation that opens Fed policy decisions to audits by the Government Accountability Office, and other initiatives that would make presidents of the 12 Federal Reserve banks subject to presidential appointment and Senate confirmation.
"A great and powerful economy cannot create the conditions for sustainable, noninflationary growth if its central bank is governed by a politicized monetary authority," he said.
Fisher added, "We should not now politicize an institution that, in the turbulence of this period, pulled our economy back from the brink of the abyss and has now taken significant steps to repair the holes in its regulatory and supervisory apparatus. As a central bank, we had the flexibility to expand our balance sheet to shore up the financial system and put out a fire."
0 komentar:
Post a Comment