Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the U.S.
economic recovery has been more sluggish that expected and
told a panel of congressional lawmakers to refrain from
cutting the federal budget too deeply.
Speaking in front of the Congressional Joint Economic
Committee in Washington, the Fed Chairman said that the
nation's economy has been growing at a slower pace than
forecasted back in June due to depressed unemployment
and economic pressures from the European sovereign debt
crisis.
While he said the U.S. banks in general have less exposure
to European sovereign debt bonds, a "disorderly default"
by Greece (or any other eurozone nation) could also have
negative consequences domestically.
Bernanke provided some advice to the congressional committee
tasked with cutting the nation's budget by $1.5 trillion;
donot cut the long-term budget so severely as to constrain
the nation's economic growth in the near term. He did admit
that balancingthe needs of the country between budget cuts
and near-term growth is a "complex situation."
The Fed Chairman's assessmentof the economy comes as groups
around the nation have protested against what they deem to
be Wall Street and corporate greed and irresponsibility.
The Occupy Wall Street protest over the last weekend in
downtown NYC resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Sheila McKinney
