Live Blog: Brookings Institution Examines Possibility of Next Recession in United States

11:10 a.m. PST Wendy Edelberg is up. She says CBO projects deficits will increase from 2.9 percent in 2016, up from from 2.8, and to 4.9 percent in 2026. All of Edelbeg’s slides can be found here.

11:07 a.m. PST: Interest rates are near zero in the United States and have been for a while. Can interest rates go below zero in the United States? Maybe. There are negative interest rates in other countries. Interest rates around the world are low. The point is we have reason to be believe that interest rates may remain low. Will the Fed be stuck near zero for a long time? Can Congress do more? What would that more be?

11:06 a.m. PST Wessel’s slides can be found here.

11:03 a.m. PST The last recession in the United State ended in 2009. What if we have another recession? Is Congress, taxes and spending prepared? Is the fed equipped? Wessel runs down some fiscal facts.

11:02 a.m. PST David Wessel kicks off the event.

10:28 a.m. PTSEconomic inequality remains a major issue in the United States after the Great Recession of 2008. Some economists believe that inequality was a root cause of that financial crisis. Could closing the gap between the wealthy and poor help?

9:55 a.m. PSTJared Bernstein and Ben Spielberg from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities examined the impact of American Recover and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and shared lessons learned in a nice paper.

9:37 a.m. PST: Is America headed for another recession? That question has been on the minds of many economists and financial analysts since the beginning of 2016. Nobody knows what the future holds, and the numbers are squiggly, according to Bloomberg Business.

Are the fears being overblown? Some people say yes and see signs that a recession is not coming.

The Brookings Institution is holding a panel discussion event in Washington, D.C. on Monday to examine these questions and the future of the U.S. economy.

Financial markets seem to be anxious that a U.S. recession is on the horizon even though economic forecasters disagree. When the next recession arrives, will fiscal and monetary policy be able to respond? If so, how? The Federal Reserve is holding short-term interest rates near zero and faces resistance, internally and externally, to reviving large-scale purchases of assets. The federal debt is larger, as a share of the economy, than at any time since the end of World War II and is projected to climb further.

The Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy will lead a panel discussion that looks at fiscal and monetary tools and which one will and won’t be available in the event of a recession. Senior Fellow and Hutchins Center Director David Wessel will moderate the discussion.

The talk will start with fiscal policy, focusing on Congress and the president. Wendy Edelberg (assistant director for economic analysis, Congessional Budget Office), Ben Spielberg (research associate, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) and Philip Swagel (professor, University of Maryland School of Public Policy) will discuss.

The next item on the agenda is monetary policy and the Federal Reserve. Ricard Clarida (professor of Economic and International Affairs, Columbia University) and Jon Faust (professor of Economics, Johns Hopkins University) will discuss.

The event will close with a panel and audience Q&A.

We will be live-blogging the discussion. Join the conversation at #NextRecession.

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Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/live_blog_brookings_institution_examines_possibility_of_recession_20160321/