Campaign News

A sex assault survivor who confronted Sen. Jeff Flake inside an elevator Friday — after announcing he would vote in favor of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh — said that the likely pivotal moment “was all kind of a blur.”

Read the full article here.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen told members of the House of Representatives in a hearing on Wednesday that the Fed's concerns about inflation limit its ability to address high African-American unemployment. 

“So, there really isn’t anything directly the Federal Reserve can do to affect the structure of unemployment across groups,” Yellen said during the House Financial Services Committee’s semiannual hearing on Federal Reserve policy. “And unfortunately, it’s long been the case that African-American unemployment rates tend to be higher than those on average in the nation as a whole.”

The African-American unemployment rate was 9.5 percent in June, nearly twice the rate of 5.3 percent in the population overall.

But Yellen said that the Fed’s ability to address this problem was limited by its commitment to keeping inflation under 2 percent.

Yellen’s remarks were in response to a question posed by Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) as to whether the Fed was taking the high rate of African-American unemployment into account when assessing the health of the labor market. Beatty was one of several African-American committee members, including ranking member Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who enjoined Yellen to consider the disproportionately high rate of African-American unemployment in deciding when to raise interest rates. 

 At the hearing, Yellen reaffirmed the Fed’s previous indications that it would raise interest rates before the year’s end. "If the economy evolves as we expect, economic conditions likely would make it appropriate at some point this year to raise the federal funds rate," Yellen said in her prepared testimony.

Maintaining price stability is one-half of the Fed’s dual mandate, together with maximizing employment. If the Fed prints more money, it spurs higher employment, ultimately putting upward pressure on prices. If it tightens the monetary supply, by raising interest rates, it keeps prices low, but also depresses employment. 

Many progressive economists and activists fault the Fed for continuing to prioritize the inflation part of its dual mandate at the expense of full employment. It is a tendency they say disproportionately affects African-Americans, who already suffer from high unemployment and discrimination in the job market.

Jordan Haedtler, deputy campaign manager of the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up campaign, which mobilizes communities of color for pro-employment Fed policy, said that Yellen’s Wednesday remarks are a reflection of this approach.

“It is indicative of the Fed’s continued emphasis on inflation even in the face of nonexistent inflation,” Haedtler said. “They are myopically focused on one portion of their dual mandate while ignoring another. If the Fed is saying that the economy is on enough of a positive trajectory to raise rates, they are saying they are OK with 9.5 percent black unemployment.”

The Fed Up campaign wants the Federal Reserve to wait for more significant wage growth before raising rates.

It is also encouraging regional Federal Reserve banks, along with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to sell homes with delinquent mortgages to nonprofit organizations that are more likely to refurbish them. Currently, Fed Up claims, the homes often go to for-profit buyers who leave them in disrepair, limiting the economic recovery in many urban communities of color.

Source: Huffington Post

Following news on Wednesday that a bipartisan group of senators known as the "Common Sense Caucus" reached a deal on an immigration measure that would grant President Donald Trump's demands for border wall funding and cuts to family reunification programs, immigrant rights groups denounced the proposed plan as a "mass deportation bill" and implored Democrats to vote against it.

Read the full article here.

The week of October 14 was a busy one for economic reports. It was also a busy week for the talking heads inside the Federal Reserve. Note that the most recent speeches this past week, even after having only three of 10 votes in September for a hike, still show a bias for the Fed to raise rates.

With the November Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled just days ahead of the election, the odds makers (the federal funds futures) are now focusing on a December rate hikes — but not quite 100% of a chance, at least ahead of Friday’s Janet Yellen speech.

Fed Chair Yellen gave the luncheon keynote address at the Boston Fed’s 60th Economic Conference. This was titled “The Elusive Recovery,” which may not sound hawkish at all. Still, she did not directly address interest rate hikes in her speech. But Yellen did say that the Federal Reserve may need to run a “high-pressure economy” to reverse damage from the 2008 to 2009 crisis that depressed output. In short, Yellen fears that our economic potential is slipping, and it may require aggressive steps to rebuild economic growth.

Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Federal Reserve, said on Friday that the odds of a rate hike were very high in December. His view is that unemployment has fallen faster than expected and he is not worried about inflationary dangers.

Also on Friday, Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, participated in a round table discussion with the Common Good Ohio (in Cleveland), which is affiliated with the Center for Popular Democracy’s Fed Up Campaign. Mester has been on the record in recent weeks as saying that the jobs market and inflation are enough to justify a rate hike.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said on Thursday that the uncertainty stemming from the U.S. presidential election might be an argument for delaying a rate increase, at least until after the November ballot. Hint: December.

Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Fed, has tried to remain on the sidelines for vocalizing rate hike talk outside of what Yellen says. Still, on Thursday he talked about more sluggish growth and maintained that the Fed and other agencies need a remedy for the “too big to fail” banks.

William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve of New York, sounded a tad more dovish. His take is that the Fed can be gentle with gradual rate hikes. He also pointed out that the Fed is not political when making interest rate decisions.

Esther George, head of the Kansas City Fed, did not address the economy nor rate hike views when speaking on Wednesday. Still, she did talk about the need for better bank cybersecurity and security of payments. George is considered one of the more hawkish Fed presidents.

Chicago Fed President Charles Evans was deemed as being noncommittal on Monday when he spoke. Still, he was signaling a December hike: “December could be an appropriate time to do it, but I don’t see any urgency either.” That was in a CNBC interview.

Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer spoke on October 9 and spoke about gross domestic product somehow recovering to 2.75% for the second half of 2016, a higher view than average. Fischer has been more hawkish of late and said that September’s decision was a close call. He said that he expects inflation to rise and that gradual rate hikes would be sufficient to get to Fed back to a neutral stance.

By Jon C. Ogg          

Source