Date: 2024-12-21 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00016261
Inequality
Slowly Getting Attention
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said income inequality and sluggish productivity are the biggest challenges of the next decade.
Daah ... this problem has been in play for almost 40 years and sure it is a big challenge, but it must be handled this year and next year not hopefully sometime through the next 10 years. Furthermore we (in the USA) do not need a bigger economy (more GDP) we need a better economy where doing good gets well paid and merely pushing up consumption in order to create profit gets diminished. We can do a lot better, but we need better decision making and for that we need better metrics. Economists at the US Fed, at the IMF and in other institutions need to up their game so that they incorporate society and the environment into the analysis of economic performance!
Peter Burgess
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said income inequality and sluggish productivity are the biggest challenges of the next decade.
On the lagging mobility in the U.S., he said, 'That's not our self-image as a country, nor is it where we want to be.'
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during his news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, December 19, 2018. Yuri Gripas | Reuters
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during his news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington, December 19, 2018.
Sluggish productivity and widening wealth gap are the biggest challenges facing the U.S. over the next decade, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday.
Speaking at a town hall in Washington D.C. to a group of educators, the central bank leader said his greatest economic fears lie outside the Fed's purview. Specifically, he called for more aggressive policies to address income inequality.
Wages at the middle and lower levels have 'grown much more slowly' than those at the higher end, he said.
'We want prosperity to be widely shared. We need policies to make that happen,' Powell added.
For the chairman, the forum was a chance to take some lighter questions — he revealed that to relax he plays guitar and rides his bicycle — but he also turned serious when addressing the issues of the future.
Powell stressed the importance of increasing labor force participation and improving mobility between income classes, which is an area where he said the U.S. has lagged in recent years.
'That's not our self-image as a country, nor is it where we want to be,' he said.
'There are policies that we need to do that everyone should be able to agree on that will change mobility, improve people's chances and enable people to better take part in the workforce of the future,' Powell added.
Jeff Cox Finance Editor