By Steve Matthews July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Regional Federal Reserve bank directors expressed concern that rising unemployment and loss of wealth from falling incomes and house prices posed a risk to recovery from the worst recession in at least half a century. The boards of directors of all 12 regional Fed banks voted to request leaving the so-called discount rate, or the rate on direct loans to commercial banks, unchanged at 0.5 percent in meetings before the Fedâs Open Market Committee gathering in June, the central bank said today. âWhile pointing to signs of some stabilization in economic conditions, most notably the slowing pace of decline in GDP, and to modest improvements in financial markets, they generally considered economic activity to be weak and the financial system to remain somewhat fragile,â the Fed said in minutes of the Board of Governorsâ discussions on the discount rate. Directors of the 12 banks vote on their preference for the discount rate every few weeks. That gives the Board of Governors in Washington a sign of how regional directors view credit costs and monetary policy. The Fed Board has final approval. The Fed has kept both the discount rate and the benchmark rate for overnight loans between banks unchanged this year. At the June 23-24 FOMC meeting, central bank officials left the benchmark rate unchanged. Policy makers also maintained their targets for purchases of mortgage debt at $1.25 trillion and long-term Treasuries at $300 billion. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601068&sid=aNeJJdV91tXo
There going to damn the economy with faint praise like this, and yes this is faint praise given the reality, hoping they don't create shock waves that the bloody truth would create.
That was a typo above. Instead of "there going to damn the economy...," it should have read "they're going to damn the economy..." Sorry about that. The big crash is coming and affecting my syntax.