The Federal Reserve’s Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report Wednesday, March 8, 2023 10:00 AM in 2128 RHOB. Ntsetselelo Dlamini, Intern, Skidmore College

Last week, I attended a House Financial Services Committee hearing during which Mr. Jerome Powell, chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, testified on the Federal Reserve's Semi-Annual Monetary Policy Report.

As an international student, I appreciate the level of transparency and accountability that is an essential building block of any democracy. Seeing the Chairman answer a wide range of questions from different Congressmembers representing constituents from around the country served as a subtle reminder that ‘everybody has a boss.’

Now, as a student of Economics, I came to the hearing curious to see how the Federal Reserve seeks to maintain the delicate balance of achieving its two objectives of maximum employment and price stability. It is my belief that it is not a secret that contractionary monetary policy is an effective tool to curb inflation. I also think that rising prices disproportionately affect low income and disadvantaged citizens who do not have much disposable income to begin with. (Ed note: Creative Investment Research sometimes disagrees with this conclusion.)

The combination of record low unemployment and high inflation is certainly not familiar ground but the Federal Reserve seems committed to achieving 2% inflation, even at the potential cost of jobs.

Projected Impact of Gun Laws on Corporate Profits in Texas

More Fortune 500 companies are located in Texas than in any other state. Texas successfully used low taxes and minimal regulations as bait to recruit companies like Tesla and Oracle. The state promoted these “advantages” in ads highlighting their “free-market” environment and criticizing the "tax and spend policies of liberal leadership" in Democrat-run states. Four million people migrated to Texas over the past ten years. Our economic models predict a reversal, however. State of Texas corporations on the Fortune 1000 list generate $2.2 trillion in revenue, $158 billion in profit. They have a market value of $3.8 trillion and employ 2.5 million people nationwide. We continue to believe this increased corporate presence in Texas imposes a tax on the nation as a whole. Texas allows anyone 21 or older to carry handguns without training or licenses, and maintains lower gun purchase age limits. Beyond the recent abortion bill, which allows people to sue those who "aid and abe

SUMMARY: THE INFLATION REDUCTION ACT OF 2022

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is a law passed by the 117th United States Congress in August 2022. It "includes a first-time provision that would allow the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate prices of certain prescription drugs in Medicare and Medicaid. Savings would be generated by requiring drug manufacturers to pay a rebate for drugs whose prices increase faster than inflation under Medicare, and would create several reforms in the Medicare drug program, also known as Part D, including a cap on out-of-pocket drug spending for seniors beginning in 2025. It also extends by three years the expanded and enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credit ahead of planned premium increases set to take effect in 2023." We estimate the impact on the African American community to be significant, on the order of 8% of the total. (For a detailed analysis, email info@creativeinvest.com). The law's climate provisions consist of "subsidies for energy that

Fixing Abortion And Black Maternal Mortality Is NOT Up To the Supreme Court. It's Up to the Fed...

Black women die in childbirth at disproportionate rates compared to their white counterparts. Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clearly shows that social determinants - access to nutrition, transportation, and healthcare——are crucial factors. With the decision to restrict access to birth control and care, the Supreme Court imposed additional penalties on a selected portion of the US population - Black women. They were added without due process or a trial at the individual level. These elevated risks are clear and undeniable, as explained below. Assume two population groups or sectors. In Sector One, women die in childbirth at the rate of ten per 1,000 live births. In Sector Two, the maternal mortality rate is 100 per 1,000 live births. With the elimination of birth control, there are 2,000 live births in each sector. This implies 20 Sector One deaths and 200 in Sector Two. Amanda Stevenson, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder,

This Week in ESG and Impact Investing

Search This Blog