The Federal Reserve made it clear in describing the U.S. economy today that any fault for this year’s sluggish expansion lies outside the central bank. “Fiscal policy is restraining economic growth,” the Federal Open Market Committee said, with a more direct message than...
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Photograph by Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke arrives for a family photo of finance ministers and central bank governors following the G20 meeting at the 2013 World Bank/IMF Spring meetings in Washington on April 19, 2013.
Fed on U.S. Growth: Don’t Blame Us
Photograph by Paul J. Richards/Pool
Secretary of State John Kerry, center, is welcomed and escorted by U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Sung Y. Kim, left, and deputy director general of South Korea's Foreign Ministry, Moon Seoung-hyun, in front of a traditional honor guard at Seoul air base on April 12, 2013.
Washington Daybook: Definitely Maybe
Will budget cuts reduce U.S. economic growth? No, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg whose median forecast is solid 3 percent growth in the first quarter. Yes, says the International Monetary Fund, which lowered its forecast for U.S. growth for...
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Photograph by Victor J. Blue/ Bloomberg
Pedestrians carry shopping bags on Fifth Avenue in New York.
Americans Critical of Economic Stewardship — Though Less So
The grades are still low, but they’re better than last year. While Washington policy makers are being blamed for sequestration and the budget impasse, Americans this year are registering improving confidence in their leaders’ ability to “do or to recommend...
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Photograph by Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg
An employee counts U.S. 100 dollar notes and 500 ruble notes, right, at the counter of an OAO Sberbank currency exchange in Moscow, Russia.
Fed Doesn’t Target Exchange Rates — But if it Did…
Ask Federal Reserve officials about their goals for the U.S. exchange rate, and they will demur. The Fed’s standard response is that the strength or weakness of the dollar is a matter for the U.S. Treasury. Yet one of the...
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Photograph by Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
A man searches for recyclable bottles and cans near the New York Stock Exchange on June 8, 2012 on Wall Street in New York City.
Income Inequality on Fed’s Radar
Income inequality is becoming an increasing issue for Federal Reserve officials and may prove to be an important factor in monetary policy, according to Credit Suisse Group AG. Citing speeches by policy makers including Vice Chairman Janet Yellen and Governors...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
The Washington Monument stands behind cherry trees blossoming in Washington on March 19, 2012.
Washington Daybook: Awaiting Cherries
President Barack Obama arrived in Tel Aviv this morning on his first visit to Israel as president. The three-day trip includes meetings and news conferences with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who disagrees with Obama on how to handle Iran’s...
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Photograph by Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg
The USS Arlington, front, and USS San Diego, rear, both U.S. Navy amphibious transport dock ships, sit at the dock at Ingalls Shipbuilding yard, a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.
Washington Daybook: Sequestration Countdown
President Barack Obama will tell workers at a Huntington Ingalls shipbuilding facility in Newport News, Virginia, today that their jobs may depend on his ability to work out a compromise with Republicans in Congress over sequestration. Huntington CEO Michael Petters speaks on Bloomberg...
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Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner arrives at the Capitol for meeting with congressional leaders on Nov. 29, 2012.
Geithner: Republicans Cede Debt Lever
This is Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s last day at work, and he is leaving with an exit interview snared by Politico in which the veteran warrior of the fiscal cliff wars suggests Republicans have ceded the debt ceiling as a...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, right, walks out of a House Republican caucus meeting at the Capitol on Jan. 1, 2013.
Boehner’s View from Bottom of Cliff
Updated at 10:50 and 11:10 am EST In the end, it’s on John Boehner. The speaker of the Republican-run House couldn’t convince his own party to accept his own alternative to the year-end tax increases which now have technically taken...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Bernanke Unhappy Mortgage Rates Aren’t Even Lower
By Caroline Salas Gage, Jody Shenn and Heather Perlberg Record-low mortgage rates aren’t cheap enough for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. Bloomberg reports that the Fed is buying $45 billion of Treasuries and $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities each...
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Contributors
-
Al Hunt
is a columnist for Bloomberg View and host of the weekly show "Political Capital with Al Hunt" on Bloomberg TV. -
Mark Silva
is deputy managing editor for government news in Washington and editor of Political Capital. He has covered the White House and national politics. -
Emma Fidel
is political editor for Bloomberg.com in Washington. She previously covered financial regulation as a Bloomberg intern. -
Don Frederick
edits political and government coverage for Bloomberg News. He previously worked for more than a decade at the Los Angeles Times' Washington bureau. -
Gregory Giroux
analyzes elections, financing of congressional and presidential elections, political advertising and demographics in Bloomberg's Washington Bureau. -
Julie Bykowicz
covers the influence of money and lobbying in Washington, and covered the state legislature and city crime for the Baltimore Sun for 10 years. -
Jonathan Salant
covers campaign finance and lobbying in Washington. He was president of the National Press Club and started in Washington in 1987. -
Richard Rubin
covers federal tax policy. He worked at Congressional Quarterly and The Charlotte Observer before joining Bloomberg News in 2010. -
Julie Hirschfeld Davis
is a senior political reporter for the Washington Bureau. She covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News and previously covered the White House for the Baltimore Sun. -
Lisa Lerer
covers the White House and covered the 2012 campaign for Bloomberg News. She covered Congress, lobbying and the 2008 campaign for Politico. -
John McCormick
is a national political reporter looking forward to the 2016 presidential campaign, which will be the fifth he's covered. He's also reported for The Des Moines Register and Chicago Tribune. -
Julianna Goldman
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Hans Nichols
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Television. -
Margaret Talev
covers the White House for Bloomberg News and covered the White House for McClatchy Newspapers. She has covered California and Florida politics. -
Cary O'Reilly
is Editor at Large at Bloomberg First Word and is Washington Daybook columnist for Bloomberg Government and Bloomberg News.
