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Today the Federal Reserve issued this Policy Statement Regarding Purchases of Treasury Securities and Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities . On December 12, 2012, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) directed the Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk) at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to purchase longer-term Treasury securities after the maturity extension program is completed at the end of December 2012, initially at a pace of about $45 billion per month. The FOMC also directed the Desk to continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) at a pace of about $40 billion per month. These actions should maintain downward pressure on longer-term interest rates, support mortgage markets, and help to make broader financial conditions more accommodative. The FOMC also directed the Desk to maintain its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from the Federal Reserve’s holdings of agency debt and agency MBS in agency MBS, and, in January, to resume rolling over maturing Treasury securities into new issues at auction.
The Wall Street Journal has a nice interactive map that lets you Make Your Own Deficit-Reduction Plan . I balanced the budget easily without doing things that I think need to be done such as eliminating the department of energy, the department of education, slashing military spending by 35%, etc., etc.
Please consider the Detroit News article Chrysler reinstates 13 workers fired for drinking on job . Chrysler Group LLC says it was forced to reinstate 13 workers who were fired from its Jefferson North Assembly Plant two years ago after being filmed by a local television station drinking and smoking what the network suggested was a controlled substance before and during work. "The workers followed the grievance procedure process outlined in the collective bargaining agreement between Chrysler and the United Auto Workers.
For the rest of the trend, consider my comment in today’s job report: Establishment Survey +146,000; Household Survey -122,000 Jobs; Unemployment 7.7% as Labor Force Shrinks by 350,000 In the last year, the civilian noninstitutional population rose by 3,733,000.
Continue Reading: Small Business Owners’ Hiring Intent Plunges to 2008 Lows; Don’t Blame Sandy or Fiscal Cliff
Reuters reports French jobless rate hits 10.3 pct, highest in 13 years France’s unemployment rate rose to 10.3 percent in the third quarter of 2012, its highest since the third quarter of 1999, from 10.2 percent in the previous quarter, data published by national statistics office INSEE showed on Thursday. Youth unemployment rose more markedly, with the jobless rate edging up to 24.9 percent, from 23.6 percent, among people under 25 years old
Read the original post: Geithner Says Obama Willing To Go Over Fiscal Cliff: Game Theory Bluff Or Reality?