Bernanke speaks at ceremony naming I-95 interchange

The exit ramp that Ben Bernanke was looking for Saturday had only a little to do with getting the U.S. economy back on the road to recovery.
The Federal Reserve chairman attended a ceremony naming the Interstate-95 interchange that leads travelers into his hometown of Dillon, S.C.
"I must confess that, until recently, I did not realize that highway interchanges were named after people," Bernanke said in remarks prepared for delivery and released by the Federal Reserve. "But, as I thought about it, I realized that it is indeed a high honor for someone whose job is focused on supporting the economy."

"Efficient transportation is crucial to economic development," he added.

The Fed chairman's comments were primarily a review of his years in Dillon, working at odd jobs such as construction and waiting tables at the South of the Border attraction that's the town's main claim to fame.
Bernanke's words are usually scrutinized for indications of his thinking on the economy. But the only relevant remark came after he mentioned another young person from Dillon, Ty'Sheoma Bethea, whose "We are not quitters" letter to President Obama - concerning the poor physical condition of her school - earned her a mention in his speech to Congress last month.

"Well, neither are the American people, despite the economic challenges we now confront," said Bernanke, echoing the girl's comment. "For our part, at the Federal Reserve, we will continue to forcefully deploy all the tools at our disposal as long as necessary to support the restoration of financial stability and the resumption of healthy economic growth."
Bernanke goes back to work in the coming week, speaking Tuesday in Washington on reforms to address financial system risk. The week after, he'll chair the Fed's policy-making body, which has kept interest rates near 0% in an effort to restart liquidity in the financial markets.



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Obama says ending economic crisis won't be easy

President Obama told Americans on Saturday that ending the economic crisis will not be "easy," but the nation will emerge "more prosperous" through swift and bold actions.
Speaking in his weekly radio and Internet address from the White House, Obama made the comments a day after the worst American unemployment figures were released in a quarter-century.

"I knew that solving this crisis would not be easy, nor would it happen overnight," Obama said.
"And we will continue to face difficult days in the months ahead. But I also believe that we will get through this -- that if we act swiftly and boldly and responsibly, the United States of America will emerge stronger and more prosperous than it was before."
In an interview published Saturday in The New York Times, Obama said that he can't assure that the economy will bounce back this year, but that he will "get all the pillars in place for recovery this year."
Obama made the pledge in a 35-minute interview -- largely focused on the economy and the war in Afghanistan -- with the Times aboard Air Force One on Friday.
"I don't think that people should be fearful about our future," he told the newspaper. "I don't think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions."

Conservative opponents have criticized Obama's new administration, saying it has pushed the country toward socialism and that his $787 billion economic stimulus package will do little to revive the struggling economy.

However, during the interview, Obama "exhibited confidence," saying the nation should not fear the future, the Times reported.
On Friday, the government announced that the United States lost 651,000 jobs last month, bringing the total number of jobs lost since the start of the recession to 4.4 million. The Labor Department also reported that the nation's unemployment rate soared to 8.1% in February, the highest level in a quarter century.
The president emphasized what his administration is doing to help get the nation out of the recession.
"My administration is committed to doing all that's necessary to address this crisis and lead us to a better day," Obama said in his radio address.
"That's why we're moving forward with an economic agenda that will jump-start job creation, restart lending, relieve responsible homeowners, and address the long-term economic challenges of our time: the cost of health care, our dependence on oil, and the state of our schools."
Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, in the weekly Republican radio address, warned of too much government involvement in the healthcare system.

"Some people are spending a lot of time talking about how to spend more of your money on bigger government run programs," Blunt said. "I'm concerned that if the government steps in it will eventually push out the private health care plans millions of Americans enjoy today."
Obama's budget, released last month, includes a 10-year $634 billion reserve fund to help pay for his healthcare reforms.

Obama ended his weekly address with a message of hope.

"We've experienced great trials before. And with every test, each generation has found the capacity to not only endure, but to prosper -- to discover great opportunity in the midst of great crisis. That is what we can and must do today," said Obama.
"And I am absolutely confident that is what we will do. I'm confident that at this defining moment, we will prove ourselves worthy of the sacrifice of those who came before us, and the promise of those who will come after."


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Bernanke flooded by memories in hometown visit

Bernanke gets honored with his own highway exit, recalls life growing up in South Carolina

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The memories came flooding back to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke when he made a visit to his home town in South Carolina on Saturday.
The Fed chief was in Dillon for a special distinction: Exit 190 on Interstate 95 was being named in his honor.
"I must confess that, until recently, I did not realize that highway interchanges were named after people," Bernanke said in prepared remarks. "But, as I thought about it, I realized that it is indeed a high honor for someone whose job is focused on supporting the economy," he quipped. "Efficient transportation is crucial to economic development." A copy of his remarks was made available in Washington.

It was a long journey from his small town to the United States' top economic official, a job he has held since February 2006.
Bernanke spoke one day after the U.S. unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the most in more than 25 years, as the recession takes a bigger toll on America's workers and companies.
The Fed will do all in its power to "support the restoration of financial stability and the resumption of healthy economic growth," Bernanke said.
In South Carolina, the unemployment rate jumped to 9.5 percent in December as laid-off textile, clothing and other factory workers found it difficult to find new jobs, according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Labor Department.

Bernanke moved to Dillon as a small child and lived there for 17 years before going off to college.

He recalled working in the family-owned drug store as a boy and "hiding out by the comic-book rack."
The summer after he graduated from high school, he reminisced about working in construction and waiting tables six days a week at South of the Border, a rest stop and roadside attraction near the border with North Carolina.
Bernanke left Dillon to attend Harvard University, where he studied economics. He earned his doctorate in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.



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Bernanke: Fed will use all tools at its disposal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Saturday the U.S. central bank would use all of its tools to stabilize financial markets and pull the economy out of recession.
"At the Federal Reserve, we will continue to forcefully deploy all the tools at our disposal as long as necessary to support the restoration of financial stability and the resumption of healthy economic growth," he said in remarks prepared for delivery at a naming ceremony in Dillon, South Carolina.
A copy of his remarks was distributed in Washington.
Bernanke, who grew up in Dillon, where his family operated a drugstore, spoke at a ceremony naming Exit 190 of Interstate 95 in his honor.

Bernanke is due to give a speech in Washington next week on financial regulation.

The Fed lowered benchmark interest rates to near zero in December, the last of seven rate cuts in 2008 that took the fed funds rate down from 4.25 percent at the beginning the year in one of the most aggressive rate-cutting sprees in the central bank's history.
In addition to chopping rates, the Fed has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into financial markets in what Bernanke calls "credit easing" to revive economic activity.
The U.S. economy slid into recession beginning in December 2007 after the collapse of housing markets led to mortgage failures and huge losses at financial institutions. Economic distress gained momentum in September with the failure of investment bank Lehman Brothers and the government rescue of insurer American International Group Inc.

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IRS dumps private debt collectors, shifts pendulum

IRS's dumping of private tax collectors seen as shift away from government privatization

WASHINGTON (AP) -- So much for privatizing the federal government.
The Internal Revenue Service's decision this week to quit using debt collectors to dun delinquent taxpayers was celebrated by public employee unions as a pendulum shift after watching the Bush administration often opt for private contractors over federal workers to deliver government services.
The IRS program was a small one, bringing in a little more than $80 million since its inception in 2006. But it represented an ideological toehold for conservatives who believe that private companies are more efficient than government agencies.

It was an ideology embraced by former President George W. Bush, who famously -- and unsuccessfully -- toyed with the idea of partially privatizing Social Security.

Privatization won't disappear. It's too widespread in a federal government that relies on private contractors for work as diverse as computer programming and providing security in Iraq. But with a new Democratic administration in charge, experts don't expect to hear much about privatizing government functions from President Barack Obama."I think we're going to see a reversal of privatization," said Harvey B. Feigenbaum, a political science professor at George Washington University. "When contracts come up for renewal, they will see if it would be better for the public sector to do the work."

IRS contracts with private debt collection agencies to go after delinquent taxpayers expired Friday. In deciding not to renew them, IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman said he concluded after a monthlong review that tax collection could best be done by government workers.
The agency had been turning over to private debt collectors some delinquency cases, often in the $5,000 to $10,000 range, that the IRS lacked the manpower to pursue. The program cost about $7.6 million a year to administer, and private contractors were allowed to keep about a quarter of the taxes they collected.
The program brought in more money than it cost to operate, but it had become a political headache for the IRS. The union representing IRS workers and the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent ombudsman within the agency, opposed the program, as did some Democrats in Congress. Other powerful lawmakers from both political parties supported it.
Colleen M. Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the decision to end the program "reaffirms" that "no one can perform the work of the federal government better than federal employees."
Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, disagreed. He said the IRS used flawed methods to review the program and succumbed to public employee unions and their allies.
"It seems the IRS and Treasury Department went out of their way to knock out an emerging, effective and evenhanded way to collect tax debt that the IRS will otherwise never collect," Grassley said. "It's discouraging when commonsense efforts to make things fair for honest taxpayers in a way that's decent and logical all around get beat down by vested, powerful interests in Washington."

Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University, said he expects the Obama administration to de-emphasize the use of private contractors for government work. But, he said, that probably means hiring more government workers, which comes with the political baggage of enlarging the federal government.
"If you aren't going to contract out services, how are you going to provide them?" Light asked. "I'm fairly certain there will be an increase in the number of federal government workers."
At the IRS, Schulman said he expects to hire more than 1,000 workers this year to increase collections. He encouraged workers from private collection agencies to apply.


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