Finally Obama has pulled out ahead. After all, we know Republicans would love to campaign with the wind of a "massive blow to the economy" in their sails. The president, without naming names, has sent out a warning in a campaign stop in economically dismal Scranton, Pennsylvania, today.
President Barack Obama warned on Wednesday that the U.S. economy would suffer a "massive blow" if Congress fails to extend payroll tax cuts, saying the country has not fully recovered from recession. ...NYT
Nothing Scranton would love more than jobs and that payroll tax cut. They'll be watching for things to get better. And they'll know who to blame if things only get worse.
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On the other side of the great economic divide in the US today are shareholders looking at their portfolios with some pleasure. The Dow is within inches of 12,000 -- for today at least, and as a result of the central banks, including the Fed, effectively pumping money into the economy by lowering the rates on borrowing dollars.
The banks announced that they would reduce by roughly half the cost of an existing program under which banks in foreign countries can borrow dollars from their own central banks, which in turn get those dollars from the Fed. The banks also said that loans will be available until February 2013, extending a previous endpoint of August 2012.
“The purpose of these actions is to ease strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster economic activity,” the banks said in a statement. ...NYT
Gee, maybe some of those goodies will trickle in the direction of the people of Scranton.
