Yellen to Washington, D.C.: Fiscal Austerity Slows Recovery

Thomas Palley

Last Monday, Federal Reserve Vice-Chair Janet Yellen gave the keynote speech at an AFL-CIO economic policy conference on restoring shared prosperity.

Dr. Yellen began by noting that the Federal Reserve “is the only agency assigned the job of pursuing maximum employment.” She then went on to acknowledge “the gulf between maximum employment and the very difficult conditions workers face today.” That gulf is the reason behind the Federal Reserve’s on-going actions to strengthen the recovery and why there is continued need for “forceful action to increase the pace of economic growth and job creation.”

Read more at:

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Economy/Yellen-to-Washington-D.C.-Fiscal-Austerity-Slows-Recovery