Federal Reserve

The news is out – many Americans are living on the financial edge.  Last week, Justin blogged about how Bankrate’s June Financial Security Index poll found that one in four Americans has no emergency savings.  Last month, the Today show featured new research showing that nearly half of Americans are financially fragile, meaning that they probably or certainly would not be able to cope with an emer

The Asset Building Program and Economic Growth Program at New America is hosting a unique, two-day, two-city event focused on the future of the Federal Reserve. We are delighted to be co-sponsoring the event with the Roosevelt Institute. The first event took place in New York City and focused on the past, present and future of the Fed as a banking and job creation institution.

Last week, I attended the Federal Reserve Community Affairs Research Conference on “The Changing Landscape of Community Development” where researchers from the Fed and Universities around the country shared their most recent findings on the challenges facing low-income communities and community development policy-makers.  The conference covered a wide range of topics from foreclosures to farmers markets with eight discussion panels and keynote speeches by Columbia University professor and aut

-- This is a guest post by Jay Pelosky, Principal, J2Z Advisory, LLC --  When one considers Q1 2011 results: broad commodities up 12%, led by oil up 24%, S&P stocks up 6% in its best Q1 since 1998, USD down 4%, one asset class stands out and that is bonds - bonds were roughly flat across both the corporate and government space in Q1, even in the face of sharply rising commodity prices and inflation fears.

In his 2011 State of the Union, President Obama outlined a sweeping program for economic transformation, resting on innovation, education, infrastructure, deficit reduction, and governmental reform. The New America Foundation asks whether these are the right “pillars” of a national agenda.  

Click here to download the slideshow, "A Recovery at Risk."

The Great Recession has put enormous strain on the American social contract, exposing not only the many holes in our social safety net but also the weaknesses in its basic design and philosophy.

It has been widely reported that China has dramatically reduced its purchases of US Treasuries over the past year.  But it would be wrong to conclude that China has stopped intervening in currency markets or even that it is dumping the dollar.