Bernanke Says U.S. Must Focus on Cutting Deficit
The nation needs to "begin planning now" to reduce the budget deficit, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said today, arguing that even as the government acts to bolster the economy in the short run it must ensure that spending and revenue will come into line in the longer term.
"Congress and the administration face formidable near-term challenges that must be addressed," Bernanke told the House Budget Committee this morning, according to prepared testimony. But he warned that the economy will suffer "unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term."
Bernanke even connected recent swings in the market for U.S. Treasury bonds to worries about the nation's long-term deficits. The interest rate that government must pay to borrow money for 10 years or more has risen sharply in the past two weeks, as investors in the United States and around the world have become more wary of the nation's growing debt load.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/03/AR2009060301367.html?hpid=moreheadlines
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment