Tam said:Summers announced he is stepping down from Obama Finance Advisory board at the end of year. That makes three when does Turbo Tax Tim go?
Sept. 20, 2010, 3:08 p.m. EDT ·
U.S. recession ended June 2009, NBER finds
Downturn of 18 months ranks as longest since Great Depression
Home builder index stuck at multi-month lows
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WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The U.S. recession that began in December 2007 ended in June 2009, making the 18-month slump the longest since the Great Depression, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Yet the NBER also cautioned that its findings bear no relation to the current state of the economy and do not represent a forecast about the future. If another downturn occurs anytime soon, the NBER said, it would constitute a separate recession. See NBER statement.
The NBER, founded in 1920, is a nonprofit group entrusted by the government with determining when recessions begin and end. The Cambridge, Ma.-based group includes leading economists in business, academia and trade unions.
Lawrence Summers to leave White House post, return to Harvard
September 21, 2010 06:00 PM
By Globe Staff
Lawrence Summers, the former Harvard president who has been serving as a top economic aide to President Obama during turbulent economic times, plans to return to Harvard as a professor at the end of the year, the White House announced today.
Summers has been serving as director of the National Economic Council and assistant to the president for economic poilcy.
"I will miss working with the President and his team on the daily challenges of economic policy making. I'm looking forward to returning to Harvard to teach and write about the economic fundamentals of job creation and stable finance as well as the integration of rising and developing countries into the global system,"Summers said in a statement.
Summers is the third top economic official in the administration to leave. Christina Romer, who was chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, left earlier this month to return to academia. Peter Orszag left his post as budget director this summer.
The move comes as the administration struggles to show an anxious public it's making progress on economy.
In a statement, the president said he is grateful forSummers' service during a time of "great peril for our country."
"While we have much work ahead to repair the damage done by the recession, we are on a better path thanks in no small measure to Larry's wise counsel," Obama said.
Summers will return to Harvard University, a move a senior administration official said was always part of Summers' long-standing plans. The official said the president asked Summers last fall to stay through 2010 in order to see through the passage of financial regulatory legislation and the continued implementation of the economic stimulus package.
I'm looking forward to returning to Harvard to teach and write about the economic fundamentals of job creation and stable finance as well as the integration of rising and developing countries into the global system,"Summers said in a statement.
Fed officials are considering adding to the $2,350bn of assets on its balance sheet to drive down long-term interest rates and stimulate an economy that is not growing fast enough to bring down unemployment.
The Fed has come under growing pressure to act after economic growth weakened over the summer to a level that is too slow to reduce unemployment.
- payrolls have increased by only 723,000 so far this year and the unemployment rate remains stuck at 9.6 per cent. Growth in the second quarter of 2010 slowed to an annualised pace of 1.6 per cent.
Jim O’Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global in New York, said the statement signalled that the Fed now had a bias towards easing policy: “It probably means that it takes [economic] strength to stop them from triggering a move rather than needing new weakness.”
A Fed-watcher at a leading hedge fund said: “This was broadly expected, although given the political implications of an easing just after the Congressional elections, getting ahead of the curve now would have been advantageous.”
Three Mile Island brought cohesion to the antinuclear movement. A few days after the incident, plans for a march were made at a hastily called meeting in Washington, sponsored by Nader's group. "This represented a real turning point for the movement," says Tim Massad, one of the organizers. "Before this we had a network of groups on the local level. But now we see people directing mass action at the President and Congress, the people ultimately responsible for Harrisburg, instead of individual utilities."
Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,920348-2,00.html#ixzz10IlVLCQF
U.S. Financial Bailout Chief Resigns
by The Associated Press
September 22, 2010
Herb Allison, the head of the government's $700 billion financial bailout program, announced on Wednesday that he would resign. He is the latest in a series of departures from President Obama's economic team.
Allison, who had served as head of the bailout program since April 2009, said in a letter to colleagues at the Treasury Department that they had accomplished a great deal and helped to stabilize the financial system.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program, the formal name for the bailout program that began during President George W. Bush's administration, has been widely criticized by the public as a rescue for wealthy bankers who took extraordinary risks.
Allison will be succeeded as head of the program by Tim Massad, 54, who will become acting assistant Treasury secretary for financial stability while the administration looks for a permanent successor.
Before joining government, Massad had been a partner for 17 years at the New York City law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore.