Friday the government warns of higher inflation and Saturday the government says everything is hunky dory.
Nice timing.
It's a little like the backpeddling we saw recently on the biotech issue.
Perhaps the best thing that might come out of this is that the economy actually slows down a bit from the breakneck pace it was at. Thus will AG cease his interest rate crusade and go home to Andrea to concentrate on her more instead of on us.
Barry
cnn.com
Clinton says U.S. economic trend 'quite positive' despite stock plunge
Clinton remains optimistic about the economy, saying "the projected inflation rate for the year is still quite modest"
April 15, 2000
Web posted at: 5:55 p.m. EDT (2155 GMT)
SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, California -- President Clinton reassured Americans about the U.S. economy on Saturday, saying he believed the long-term trends were "quite positive."
One day after Wall Street ended a week of stunning losses in the stock markets, Clinton sounded a positive note, saying the foundations for a strong economy remain.
"The projected inflation rate for the year is still quite modest, the projected growth rate for the year is still quite strong," Clinton said. "So I think if we stay with our economic policy and the American people's productivity continues to increase as it is going to, then I still think we'll have a very good year."
The president also offered some advice to nervous investors after the Dow Jones industrial average on Friday plummeted a record 616 points and the Nasdaq composite index fell a record 355 points.
"I think everybody that invests their money should tend to look at what it's likely to look like over a year," Clinton said. "So all I can do is try to keep the economy strong and that's what I'll do.
"I think the investment climate and the markets will take care of themselves," Clinton added. "They'll go up, they'll go down, but I think the long-term trends are quite positive."
Clinton's brief comments to reporters were made after the president set aside 388,000 acres of land to protect giant sequoia trees.
Friday's plunge came after the government said prices at the consumer level showed surprising strength last month, triggering fears that the Federal Reserve may raise interest rates more aggressively
dailynews.yahoo.com
Sunday April 16 9:32 AM ET
Summers Says Sees No Pickup in U.S. Inflation
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said on Sunday the fundamentals of the American economy were strong, stressing that he was not worried about a possible uptick in inflation.
``The economy of the United States is in better shape than it has been in a long time,' he told Fox News Sunday.
``We always watch all the figures. We always worry about inflation because being vigilant about inflation is how we kept inflation under control over all of these years.' he added.
Asked whether he saw a risk of a serious rise in inflation in the months ahead, Summers replied: ``No, I don't.' |
