{"id":4370,"date":"2011-06-08T07:01:59","date_gmt":"2011-06-08T13:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasonapollovoss.local\/?p=4370"},"modified":"2018-09-21T02:06:09","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T06:06:09","slug":"feds-bernanke-sees-more-robust-second-half-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/2011\/06\/08\/feds-bernanke-sees-more-robust-second-half-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"Fed&#8217;s Bernanke Sees More Robust Second Half 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Yesterday the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, stated that current U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth is slower than the Federal Reserve had anticipated, but that nonetheless, he expected a more robust GDP growth in the second half of 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><strong>Analysis:<\/strong> I am not sure what data Ben Bernanke is looking at that lead to certainty of a more robust second half of 2011 GDP growth rate.\u00a0 We still have:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">rampant unemployment and underemployment;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">consumer confidence which is flat to slightly down;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">slowing manufacturing growth, which is usually a presage to a slowing economy and often a recession;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">a Chinese economy that is still overheated;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">a lingering Greek debt crisis;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">a looming debt crisis in the United States;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">stunted economic growth in Japan due to the earthquake;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">a collapsed housing market in the United States, which is an economic sector that hires many blue collar workers;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">U.S. corporations sitting on trillions of dollars of unspent cash;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">continually rising commodities prices;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">continued unrest in the Middle East, that looks unlikely to abate soon; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">generally not much good news out there<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">It is rare for the Federal Reserve to &#8220;talk up&#8221; the economy, but it appears to me that is what Bernanke is doing.\u00a0 I just cannot see what he is apparently seeing.\u00a0 It&#8217;s not that I am a bear on the U.S. economy; I am not.\u00a0 After all, you and I are both working hard to do our jobs well and find ways to make our lives better.\u00a0 Those are <a href=\"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web2008\/10\/08\/the-solid-foundation-underneath\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the solid economic foundations underneath<\/a>.\u00a0 However, I could not use the word robust to describe what I anticipate.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Separately, the Federal Reserve is sticking to its plan of ending its <a href=\"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web2010\/11\/09\/the-feds-quantitative-easing-is-a-show-of-national-strength\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">monetary expansion policy of Quantitative Easing<\/a>, or QE.\u00a0 I am glad that they are easing this policy of printing money.\u00a0 It is not surprise to me that the economy is starting to see some inflation after the preceding three years of injecting trillions of dollars into the economy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><strong>Importance grade:<\/strong> 5; what the Federal Reserve Chairman thinks is important.\u00a0 However, reality trumps the Fed Chairman&#8217;s opinion, and the reality appears to be that the U.S. economic growth is flattening.\u00a0 So it is difficult to put credence into Bernanke&#8217;s words.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">Jason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday the Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, stated that current U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) growth is slower than the Federal Reserve had anticipated, but that nonetheless, he expected a more robust GDP growth in the second half of 2011. Analysis: I am not sure what data Ben Bernanke is looking at that lead to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonapollovoss.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}