EP28 五分钟英语-The Weekend Edition VI
#英语 #英语口语 #英语听力 #英语学习 #学英语 #五分钟
开场白: (0:10”) 通货膨胀和其所带来的市场影响
The red hot inflation is definitely churning up the global markets across different markets. The Fed, as scheduled, announced a half percentage rate hike on Wednesday. The U.S. market responded with a very positive market uptick on the same day but reversed the course in the next following two trading days. Also, the Bank of England raised its key interest rate by a full percentage which sent the British pound to its lowest level in years. After years of easy credit, investors and business communities are gearing up for a more hawkish central banks and tightened monetary policies. However, many still believe that the Fed hasn’t acted swiftly enough which is why inflation cannot be tamed.
Title: Fed Officials Are on the Defensive as High Inflation Lingers
Part I : Who and Where? (2:07")
Christopher Waller, a governor at the Federal Reserve, faced an uncomfortable task on Friday night: He delivered remarks at a conference packed with leading academic economists titled, suggestively, “How Monetary Policy Got Behind the Curve and How to Get Back.”
Part II : What did he say? (2:40")
The Fed is raising interest rates, and on Wednesday lifted them by the largest increment since 2000. But prominent economists on Friday blasted America’s central bankers for being slow to realize that inflation was going to run meaningfully higher in 2021 as big government spending goosed consumer demand. They criticized the Fed for taking monetary policy support away from the economy too haltingly once it began to react. Some suggested that it was still moving tentatively when more decisive action was warranted.
Mr. Waller defended and explained the decisions the Fed made last year. Many inflation forecasters failed to predict the 2021 price burst, he noted, pointing out that the Fed pivoted toward removing policy support starting as early as September, when it became clear that inflation was a problem.
“The Fed was not alone in underestimating the strength of inflation that revealed itself in late 2021,” said Mr. Waller, who expected inflation to be slightly higher than many of his colleagues. He noted that the Fed’s policy-setting committee had to coalesce around policy moves, which can take time given its size: It has 12 regional presidents and up to seven governors in Washington.
“This process may lead to more gradual changes in policy as members have to compromise in order to reach a consensus,” Mr. Waller said.
Part III: The critics (4:26”)
Such explanations have done little to shield the Fed so far. Lawrence H. Summers, a former Harvard president and Treasury secretary, suggested earlier Friday that an economic overheating was predictable last year as the government spent heavily and that “it was reasonable to expect that the bathtub would overflow.” Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, called inflation “a clear and present danger to the American people,” and declared the Fed’s reaction “slow.”
And even as the Fed comes under fire for responding too ploddingly as inflation pressures began to build, a new debate is evolving over how quickly — and how much — rates need to increase to catch up and wrestle fast price increases back under control.
