Sunday, May 17, 2020

Fed Chair Jerome Powell talks to 60 minutes

Photos, copyright KMKaung
"It depends on the medical metrics.  The virus has not gone away.  Death rates are down due to social distancing."

Powell says the 2nd bailout may not be enough, he praises Congress even though he's a Republican and a trump hire.

Scott Pelley asked "Will you just print the money"--Powell said Fed has the authority to print it digitally and will also print bank notes, which will of course increase the money supply.

He predicted the newest hires will suffer the most and so will the lowest paid. (They don't have a safety net nor a cushion of savings to fall back on.)

Powell predicts unemployment of 25% (or 30%)

Pelly said those were the numbers of the Great  Depression.  He said people lose their skills and their business contacts if they stay away from the work place too long.

60 minutes showed the Federal Reserve building as well as some of the interior, wh was built as part of the New Deal that Roosevelt used to jump start the economy after the Great Depression.

BTW, once things reopen, try to go to the Roosevelt Memorial, close to the Martin Luther King Memorial on the Mall.

There are sculptures of and quotes from Roosevelt, a niche for Eleanor Roosevelt, sculptures of a bread line and stone and water features which to my eye look very Asian minimalistic.  Also a depiction of R's fireside chats on radio.

This is an informal summary I made from memory, if you want a precise transcript, you'll have to make it yourself.

kmk

5-17-2020




Blake Lively sues co-star Baldoni with sexual harrassmen on set of It Ends with US.

I still have not read the book--waiting for price to fall. https://www.aol.com/lifestyle/blake-lively-sues-ends-us-134710634.html