Description: This is
a VOA Special English Economics Report.
See text below
Text:
The government says the United States economy shrank
at an annual rate of one percent in April, May and
June. The decrease was less than expected, and much
less than at the start of the year. The improvement
was partly the result of increased government
spending.
Another report showed a small drop in the number of
newly jobless workers. There was also a drop in the
number of people on long-term unemployment
assistance.
In August, President Obama nominated Ben Bernanke
for a second term as chairman of the Federal
Reserve.
His current four years end in January.
Mister Obama said: "Ben approached a financial
system on the verge of collapse with calm and
wisdom, with bold action and out-of-the-box thinking
that has helped put the brakes on our economic
freefall."
Ben Bernanke led the central bank through
extraordinary efforts to contain the worst economic
crisis since the nineteen thirties.
But economists say it may still be too early to
congratulate him on rescuing the economy.
Critics say he failed to do his part to prevent the
crisis.
Democrat Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking
Committee, says Ben Bernanke did not act fast enough
at the start. And many Republicans criticize the Fed
chief -- himself a Republican -- for what they see
as too much spending.
He used the bank's power to create money. The Fed
established new lending programs, and approved large
purchases of government securities and
mortgage-related securities.
But the president's decision to renominate Ben
Bernanke for Senate confirmation is considered a
safe one. In his second term, he will have to
consider how and when to withdraw heavy intervention
in the financial industry and raise interest rates.
The Fed has reduced short-term rates to almost zero.
Heavy government spending could cause inflation
unless officials find just the right time to act.
But if they act too soon and raise interest rates
too much, the economy could crash again.
The White House budget office lowered its estimate
for this year's federal deficit. The government will
probably spend less than it thought on the financial
system. The estimate for the next ten years,
however, is higher because the recession was deeper
than expected. But even after the economy recovers,
the deficit is around four percent of the economy.
And that, as the report notes, is "higher than
desirable."
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
