–May Further Uncertainty If People Fear Fed To Go Too Far
WASHINGTON (MNI) – Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard
Fisher said Wednesday he does not “see a high likelihood of a recession”
next year, even if the economy is not “going very robustly.”
A lot will depend on the “clarity” that businesses get from
Congress on the fiscal front, he said in an interview with CNBC,
stressing that the current uncertainty is holding back hiring and other
capital spending decisions.
Instead, if the Fed does more easing, “The only thing we can do” is
to “further” such uncertainty if people feel “we’re going to go too
far,” Fisher said.
He otherwise repeated the view he has recently expressed, including
in an interview with MNI, that more monetary easing is not, in his view,
the answer.
The answer has to come from Congress, he said. “They have the only
game in town,” not the Fed.
Fisher declined to make comments on the political campaign. “I am
indifferent as to who the president of the United States is,” he said.
“I hope that whomever wins the presidential election will get the
Congress to finally act,” he added.
He said as long as Congress cannot get its act together, “the
business community can’t plan for the future.”
The Fed, for its part, has already “put a lot out there,” he said,
adding that “what we’ve already put out there is not having much
effect.”
** MNI Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
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