Stimulus

Goldman Sachs To Federal Reserve: Boost The Economy Already

Brian Beutler | October 17, 2011, 2:50PM

Economists and monetary policy wonks have been screaming about this for months -- sometimes at each other. Now economists at investment giant Goldman Sachs are on board. In a proprietary analysis for clients, Goldman economists Jan Hatzius and Sven Jari Stehn say the Federal Reserve should announce publicly that it will pursue a bit of inflation, and make good on that goal with looser monetary policy -- a new round of so-called "Quantitative Easing."

From the analysis: "[W]e believe that the Fed's most promising option for delivering significant further policy easing would be a shift to a nominal GDP level target coupled with large-scale asset purchases.

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Ben Bernanke

Congressional Dysfunction Begins To Spook Old Pros

Brian Beutler | October 10, 2011, 5:05AM

U.S. Capitol building

Congress has always been Washington's whipping boy, particularly near election time. The antics get sillier, the pace shifts from glacial to gridlock, and the frustrated public gets daily reminders that lawmakers are often too mired in politics to function in the national interest.

That's not news.

What is news is that this time it's starting to scare the pros.

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