20.05.12

The Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy

Thank you.  It’s a pleasure to be with you in Phoenix this morning.  I must tell you though that I am a fervent San Francisco Giants fan, and I am still smarting from the way the Diamondbacks snatched the Western Division championship from us this year.  But you invited me here to speak about the economy and the Federal Reserve.  So I promise I’ll stick to my assigned subject for the rest of my remarks.  I should note that these remarks represent my own views and not necessarily those of others in the Federal Reserve System.

The title of my talk is “The Economic Outlook and Monetary Policy.”  I’ll sketch for you my sense of where the economy is now, where it is going, and what the Fed is doing.  As I see it, the story is one of slow recovery from an especially severe financial crisis and recession, painfully gradual progress on unemployment, and receding inflation.  It is a story that calls for continued action by the Federal Reserve to support a fragile economy.

Source: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco