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President Barack Obama will nominate Federal Reserve vice chair Janet Yellen to succeed Ben Bernanke as chairman of the nation’s central bank, the White House said Tuesday. Yellen would be the first woman to head the powerful Fed, taking over at a pivotal time for the economy and the banking industry. … Yellen emerged as the leading candidate after Lawrence Summers, a former Treasury secretary whom Obama was thought to favor, withdrew from consideration last month in the face of rising opposition. Yellen, 67, would likely continue steering Fed policy in the same direction as Bernanke. A close ally of...

A new Gallup poll shows that a large majority of Americans are “dissatisfied” with the federal government’s handling of numerous economic-related issues, with 85% of people dissatisfied in particular with the government’s handling of the nation’s finances. While the poll showed strong satisfaction for government’s management of natural disasters, national parks, and homeland security, for the 19 issues queried about by the poll, Americans were dissatisfied with government’s handling of 13 of them in majorities that ranged from 56% to 85%. … The poll also showed that Americans’ dissatisfaction with the federal government’s handling of certain issues has increased since...

Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the U.S. economy still needs help from the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policies. Bernanke told the National Bureau of Economic Research that because unemployment remains high and inflation is below the Fed’s target, the policies are still necessary. He also said the economy is being held back by higher taxes and federal spending cuts. … Stock index futures rose as Bernanke spoke. The Standard & Poor’s index futures were up eight points, or 0.5 percent, at 1,656 as of 5:40 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time—shortly after Bernanke wrapped up his remarks. Bernanke’s comments were...

There are limits to how much aid the Federal Reserve can provide to the U.S. economy, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke warned on Wednesday as he urged politicians to tackle a year-end fiscal cliff that could derail the country’s gradual recovery. … The U.S. central bank announced it would keep buying $85 billion of Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds a month until it saw a substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market. Its balance sheet would increase to almost $4 trillion by the end of next year if it kept up that pace of purchases. … Critics of the central...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he would have to have a “real serious conversation” with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke before he considers bringing the Federal Reserve Transparency Act to the Senate Floor. On July 25, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2012 (HR 459), also commonly known as the “Audit the Fed” bill sponsored by retiring Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), in a 327-98 vote and has been received in the Senate. The Senate version of the bill, S.202, is stuck in the Senate. … As CNSNews.com previously reported, Reid was once a...

Amid all the political and media hoopla about the "fiscal cliff" crisis, there are a few facts that are worth noting. First of all, despite all the melodrama about raising taxes on "the rich," even if that is done it will scarcely make a dent in the government's financial problems. Raising the tax rates on everybody in the top two percent will not get enough additional tax revenue to run the government for ten days. And what will the government do to pay for the other 355 days in the year? All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting...

Federal Reserve officials are starting to build a case for a new program of buying mortgage-backed securities to boost the ailing economy, though they appear unlikely to move swiftly. The idea would be to target any new efforts by the central bank at the parts of the economy that are most severely impeding a recovery—the housing and mortgage markets—by working to push down mortgage rates. Lower mortgage rates, in turn, could encourage more home buying and mortgage-refinancing, and help the economy by freeing up cash for consumers to spend on other goods and services. Mortgage rates are already very low,...

<p>WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke has started a process that may lead to the central bank setting targets for unemployment and inflation, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Monday..</p>

THE ONLY PART YOU NEED TO SEE: "United States Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke noted that economic indicators did not adequately capture the economy in relation to the Earth’s natural systems. “This is like flying a very large airplane with no map,” he said. Societies had already exceeded planetary boundaries in terms of climate, biodiversity laws and overproduction of nitrogen. A “de-growth” agenda was essential. “We have to get discourse about de-growing the economy going, especially in North America,” he insisted. The sustainable development discourse should be grounded in the Earth Charter, a document developed over a decade of...

Official Congressional budget estimates understate the peril of rising debt, Fed chair Ben Bernanke told the Budget Committee on Capitol Hill today. Warning that our nation's fiscal health has deteriorated appreciably since the onset of the financial crisis and the recession, Bernanke called upon lawmakers to confront the long term fiscal challenges sooner rather than later. If lawmakers don't confront them, they'll find themselves confronted by them.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is waging an epochal battle behind the scenes for control of US monetary policy, struggling to overcome resistance from regional Fed hawks for further possible stimulus to prevent a deflationary spiral. Fed watchers say Mr Bernanke and his close allies at the Board in Washington are worried by signs that the US recovery is running out of steam. The ECRI leading indicator published by the Economic Cycle Research Institute has collapsed to a 45-week low of -5.7 in the most precipitous slide for half a century. Such a reading typically portends contraction within three months...

Current economic policies are not sustainable and the world faces doom because "the governments are taking over", said Marc Faber, editor & publisher of The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report. "They will all bankrupt us and expropriate us, but it may not happen tomorrow. They'll give us something to play with, until the whole system breaks down...they'll just print money and print more money," he said on CNBC Thursday.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was ripped off by a sophisticated identity theft ring. The man most responsible for the nation's fiscal policy was one of hundreds of victims of an elaborate, $2.1 million scam headed by a convicted con man known as "Big Head," according to NEWSWEEK. The crime came just as Big Ben was dealing with the first rumblings of the financial crisis on Wall Street, after Bernanke learned that a thief had swiped his wife's purse at a Washington Starbucks. The Bernankes had been victims of a versatile ring that combined high tech swindling with old-fashioned thievery. Days...

In April 2008, the US Treasury collected an all-time record $407.3 billion ($403.75 billion after subtracting the first $3.35 billion wave of stimulus checks, which really should have been treated as outlays, that went out just before month-end). It was an indication that, as I said at the time, "many (entrepreneurs, businesspeople, and investors) are thinking, in the face of relentless media harping to the contrary, that 2008 will be at least as profitable (as 2007)." This year, it's shaping up to be the "Bailout Year Bummer." Uncle Sam's fiscal year began on October 1 of last year, mere days...

Stow the red wheelbarrow back in the shed. Despite forebodings by Texas Rep. Ron Paul and other gold bugs about hyperinflation, your wallet will be sufficient to hold your spending money for the foreseeable future. Paul and other inflation hawks correctly note that the Fed's printing presses are running full tilt. Nevertheless, some economic experts argue that we won't require wagonloads of debased currency to buy a stick of butter, mirroring Germany's 1923 nightmare. Reason: Deflation still hangs like a low, dark cloud over our sinking economy. Too few dollars are chasing too many goods, and this will worsen as...

The Federal Reserve on Friday issued proposals to restrict various credit-card billing practices, including double-cycle billing and unreasonable late charges. The proposals aim to protect credit-card users and clarify costs by prohibiting actions such as raising an annual percentage rate unless certain exceptions apply, treating a payment as late unless consumers have been provided with a reasonable amount of time to make payments and unfairly maximizing charges. -SNIP- In a statement Friday, Edward Yingling, president and chief executive of the American Bankers Association, said the Fed's proposal is an "unprecedented regulatory intrusion" into the marketplace. "The proposal would greatly restrict...

The dollar has embarked on a big decline that will see it fall against all leading currencies, according to analysts. The plunge is being prompted by America’s $800 billion (£438 billion) current-account deficit, they say. The dollar has been under pressure following last weekend’s meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers, which emphasised “global imbalances” and said currencies should reflect economic fundamentals. Then China raised its key interest rate to 5.85%, its first hike for months, and Ben Bernanke, the new Federal Reserve chairman, hinted that American rates would pause at 5% after a rise in May. Analysts say...