Bernanke inquiet

Bernanke inquiet

C’est une des premières interventions officielles (rapport biannuel devant le Sénat) du président de la Fed, depuis le printemps 2009, qui montre une réelle préoccupation pour la situation économique, surtout du côté de l’emploi. Ben Bernanke commence à réaliser que rien n’est joué et il préfère prendre date, disant implicitement au Congrès (aux républicains surtout) qu’il doit faire plus pour stimuler l’emploi.

Article dans le Guardian du 22 juillet.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jul/22/ben-bernanke-us-economy-unusually-uncertain.

«Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke warned last night that the US economy faced “unusually uncertain” prospects, and said the central bank was ready to take further steps to bolster growth if needed.

»Low growth for several years was the likely outcome of current policies, but even this forecast could be blown off course, Bernanke told the Senate banking committee.

»“Even as the Reserve continues prudent planning for the ultimate withdrawal of monetary policy accommodation, we also recognise that the economic outlook remains unusually uncertain.

»“We will continue to carefully assess ongoing financial and economic developments, and we remain prepared to take further policy actions as needed.”

»He blamed the banking sector, which continued to labour with poorly performing loans, as one of the chief drags on the ability of companies to expand. The near collapse of the Greek economy before its bailout by the European Union was also blamed for delaying the US recovery.

»He pointed to weak employment, with more than half of the unemployed having been out of work for more than six months. Average growth in private jobs of 100,000 a month this year was “insufficient to cut the jobless rate materially”, and it would probably take a “significant amount of time” to restore the 8.5m jobs lost in 2008 and 2009, Bernanke said in prepared remarks.

»He told Senator Christopher Dodd, chair of the committee: “Part of the reason I'm concerned by the situation is that this is the worst labour market since the Great Depression. People who are unemployed for a long period of time see their skills atrophy. They may become demoralised, and short term unemployment becomes long term unemployment. We need to be very concerned.” The US housing market also remains weighed down by a lack of consumer confidence, he said.»

“Vieux Rebelle”