Fed Links

I posted this on my blog tonight:

There were two speeches today by Fed officials. First, there was a speech by Fed Governor Susan Bies:

Productivity and Economic Outlook

Bottom line: Likes current situation, but worried about capacity and resource constraints driving up input prices and causing in inflationary pressure.

There was also a speech by Richmond Fed President Jeffrey M. Lacker:

The Economic Outlook for 2006

Bottom line: Likes current situation, but not sure that the pass-through risk from high energy prices to core inflation is over. One more rate hike, then assess incoming data to see where to go next.

Here's the Bloomberg write-up of the speeches:

Fed Officials See Inflation Risks From Oil, Rising Factory Use

And also from Bloomberg, Gene Sperling assesses Greenspan's record. He has quarrels with particular episodes such as the 2001 tax cut, but overall sees Greenspan's record in a positive light:

Time to Judge the Whole Record of Alan Greenspan