Debate now rages about whether the Federal Reserve should continue to raise interest rates to tame inflation or slow down these hikes and see what happens. As a reminder, in 2021, the dominant voices including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell asserted that the emerging inflation would be "transitory" and disappear when pandemic-induced supply constraints…
Emily Withnall caught COVID-19 from her teenager in July 2020. Although her condition is improving, Withnall said she still isn't back to her pre-COVID-19 health and she's had to ask her employer, New Mexico Highlands University, for accommodations, which include time off to go to her various medical appointments and the ability to work remotely.
The stock market continues to convulse, making it about 11 months now since weā ve witnessed some sort of normalcy in the indexes. The monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve to combat the worst inflation in 40 years is a causation for sure, but in addition to that, the restart of supply lines after the pandemic shutdowns, the unwillingness of many to get back to…
With the midterm elections quickly approaching, some people are claiming that the House Republicans' recently unveiled "Commitment to America" plan includes cuts to Social Security and Medicare for certain groups. VERIFY reader Ruth emailed the team to ask whether it's true that Republicans are planning to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, citing…
The top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee warned Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday not to push the U.S. economy into recession with overzealous interest rate hikes meant to fight inflation. Brown's letter comes a week before the Federal Open Market Committee, the panel of Fed officials responsible for monetary policy, is set to meet in…
By ARIANA FIGUEROA AND CLARK KAUFFMAN. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is giving the Biden administration until Monday to respond, and those six statesā Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolinaā will have until Tuesday to respond. Karine Jean-Pierre, President Joe Biden's press secretary, said in a statement Friday night: "Tonight's…
The alliance between big business and the Republican Party, one of the oldest in U.S. politics, is unusually frayed these days. Representative Jim Banks of Indiana, a potential member of House Republican leadership in the next session of Congress, recently said that Republicans are "so much healthier now that we've divorced ourselves from corporate America.
COEUR d'ALENEā Reports that the Federal Reserve may ease back on interest rate hikes sent stocks soaring Friday and gave Jimmy McAndrew the opening he was looking for: All is not lost when it comes to the economy. "There are some remedies for what's going on out there," he said Friday morning during the "Navigating the Growth of Kootenai County" program presented by…

Despite āquiet,ā Fed leaders have loudly backed continued rate hikes
For a little more than a week before each of its interest-rate setting meetings, the Federal Reserve falls silent. Itās a time when its leaders stop shedding light on their views of the American economy and go mute on the range of decisions they may make.
On Oct. 13, the Labor Department released data that showed the consumer price index rose 8.2% in September. Over the past year, the core inflation index, which excludes food and energy, increased 6.6%, the highest level since September 1982. On June 7, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen acknowledged that she and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell "could have used a…
However, Washington's inflation-fighting efforts "haven't yet made meaningful progress," as a Federal Reserve governor, Christopher J. Waller, recently conceded. With Republicans running on the issue and likely to gain control of at least one house of Congress in November, but not offering much in the way of a concrete anti-inflation plan, it's important to ask…
A federal appeals court on Wednesday delivered a blow to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, ruling Congress ran afoul of the Constitution when it delegated its financial authority to an executive agency. The CFPB gets funding directly from the Federal Reserve, not through Congressā appropriations, which runs afoul of the separation of powers, a…
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Bank of England Gov. Andrew Bailey are burdened by terribly stubborn inflation and national governments either too woke or unimaginatively conservative. Historically, central banks have viewed inflation and unemployment through a Keynesian lens.
āMany Americans remain pessimistic about the state of U.S. democracy and the way elected officials are chosen– nearly two years after a divisive presidential election spurred false claims of widespread fraud and a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. In a reversal from two years ago, Republicans are now more likely than Democrats to say democracy is not working…
āLike banks, insurers can leverage access to their services as an incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or exposure to the physical risks of climate change,ā said Jason Thistlethwaite, an expert on the economic impacts of extreme weather at the University of Waterloo, Canada. In some insurance markets, such as Florida, people are already struggling to get…

COVID-19 public health emergency extended into January 2023
The Biden administration extended the COVID-19 public health emergency through Jan. 11, 2023, marking three years since the emergency was first declared in January 2020.
Inflation continues to firm in the United States according to September data, despite the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes to control it, news that hits President Joe Biden ahead of the mid-term elections. Prices rose 8.2% in the 12 months to September, according to the CPI consumer price index released Thursday by the Labor Department.
āWhat keeps driving inflation so high? Then Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted gas and food supplies and sent those prices skyward. Since March, the Federal Reserve has been aggressively raising interest rates to try to cool the price spikes.
Updated October 13, 2022 at 8:48 AM ET. Tulsa retiree Lynn Christophersen relies almost entirely on Social Security to pay her bills, whether it's covering the rising price of gasoline or another increase in the cost of electricity. Consumer prices rose 8.2% for the 12 months ending in September, the Labor Department said Thursday.