Diane Swonk
Diane Swonk
fed seen softer stay tone
We have seen a softer tone in their write-ups. I think there is a real sense that the Fed is going to stay on the sidelines.
abundant broad brought consumers early extremely finally holiday left less means ordered overly promotions retailers seen shelves
Retailers ordered extremely conservatively for the holiday season. The shelves aren't overly abundant with goods, and controlling inventories has finally made it into broad retailers, not just Wal-Mart. That's important because it means a lot of the early promotions we've seen have brought the consumers in, but has left less on the shelves with less selection.
bit coming fed fireworks friday news seen washington
After the fireworks we've seen coming out of Washington on Friday and Monday, I think the Fed would like to be the least bit of news this week.
christmas far market seen tired
I think the market is tired of Christmas. We've already seen the Christmas reports. As far as the market is concerned, that's old news.
frankly hitting percent pressures productive start until wage
We're more productive than we were in the 90s and frankly we didn't start hitting wage pressures in the 90s until about a 4-3/4 percent unemployment rate.
begin boil concerned cycle fed flames pot time turn
We are at a time in the cycle when you don't need to just turn down the flames on the fire, you have a pot that is already boiling. What the Fed is concerned about is that even as you begin to turn down the flames that pot will still boil over.
bad indicator people secure whether
very bad indicator on whether or not people feel secure about their jobs.
absorb blows economy fed labor market strong
Like what the Fed has suggested, the U.S. economy was more than strong enough to absorb the blows of Katrina. The labor market is still pretty resilient.
clearly fed insurance risk saying willing
I think this is clearly the Fed saying 'we're willing to take out an insurance policy, we're not willing to risk recession',
people stop sudden
Steakhouses all of a sudden don't look so good, but people don't stop eating,
boost companies competition customer innovate inward mean means order profits turn
That doesn't mean that competition is getting any less. It just means that companies have to turn inward to innovate in order to boost profits and customer satisfaction,
closer employment full percent view
My own view is that full employment is closer to 4 to 4.5 percent -- probably closer to the 4.5 percent range.
brought losses nation recover wealthy york
We are a wealthy nation that rebuilds and fortifies. Ultimately, New York is going to more than recover the losses that this brought on.
backs environment labor markets older people silly tight turning work younger
To be turning our backs on people who want to work is kind of silly in an environment where you've got tight labor markets and we're getting older and need younger people to work.