With Jeff Kearns The Federal Reserve’s zero-interest-rate policy has inspired plenty of criticism from investors, who say low rates punish savers and risk inflation. But comparing Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and other central bankers to a medieval barber played...
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Photograph by Jewel Samad/AFP via Getty Images
President Barack Obama listens to Japan's new conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe following their bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington on Feb. 22, 2013.
Comparing Central Banks to Medieval Bloodletter
Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
A tack welder in Dubuque, Iowa.
Factories Show February Strength
At first glance, manufacturing seemed to show signs of bipolarity in today’s economic releases. The Federal Reserve in Washington reported that production in manufacturing dropped 0.4 percent in January. That followed big back-to-back gains of 1.7 percent in November and 1.1...
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Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg
Senator Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, left, and Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, the ranking Republican on the committee, in Washington in this file photo.
Senators Set Priorities on EU Trade Deal
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, and ranking member Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, have given U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk their priorities concerning a potential agreement on trade, investment, and regulatory cooperation between the U.S. and ...
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Photograph by Photographer's Mate Third Class (AW/SW) Danny Ewing Jr./U.S. Navy via Bloomberg
Flight deck personnel direct an aircraft onto Catapult Four after an S-3B Viking, assigned to Anti-submarine Squadron Two Two, takes off from the flight deck of the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in this file photo.
USS Truman: Sequestration Mission
The USS Harry S. Truman has been assigned a difficult mission with an uncertain outcome: Stay in port to help protect the Pentagon from sequestration. With the automatic spending cuts set to take effect on March 1 unless President Barack...
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Photograph by Paul Sancya/AP Photo
Job seekers at a job fair in Southfield, Michigan.
White House Warns of ‘Self-Inflicted’ Wounds for a Recovering Economy
The White House is taking today’s employment report as a sign that the economy is healing from “the wounds inflicted” by the worst downturn since the Great Depression, while warning Congress against creating any “self-inflicted wounds.” Such as the looming...
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Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Contractors lay down flooring at a construction site in Lorton, Virginia.
Obama’s Economy: Timing Everything
Timing is everything. Before Election Day, it was reported that the nation’s unemployment fell below 8 percent for the first time in nearly four years. After Inauguration Day, it’s reported that the economy contracted, with the nation’s gross domestic product...
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Photograph by Munir uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. Army soldiers attached to 2nd platoon, C troop, 1st Squadron (Airborne), 91st U.S Cavalry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team operating under NATO sponsored International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) looks through his rifle as a Medevac helicopter takes off during a patrol near Baraki Barak base in Logar Province on Oct. 13, 2012. T
Defense Cuts: Unavoidable, Despite GDP Contraction Pinned on Defense?
Written with Richard Rubin Just as the U.S. gross domestic product is taking a hit from lower defense budgets, federal spending cuts viewed as unthinkable a few months ago — $1.2 trillion falling heavily on the Pentagon — are seen...
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Photograph by Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
A shopper organizes his cash at a Best Buy Co. store in Peoria.
Economic Confidence: Gallup Survey Against Grain of Consumer Indices
There are indicators, and there are indicators. One of the leading indicators of consumer confidence, the Conference Board, reported today that confidence reached its lowest level in more than a year in January as renewed payroll taxes took a bigger...
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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 Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
A "now hiring" sign at a Chase bank branch in San Rafael, California.
Unemployment 8% Mid-January: Gallup
When it comes to work, there are indicators and then there are indicators. The Labor Department won’t report on the state of the U.S. job market this month until the first Friday in February. Gallup, which conducts its own survey...
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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.
