From Portside

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BenFranklin1790 sent to following piece on
DANGEROUS DOGMA AT THE FED

The coexistence of low unemployment and low inflation has shattered the
notion of a fixed NAIRU (non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment)
and yielded enormous economic benefits. According to a new Financial
Markets & Society report by Dean Baker, allowing the unemployment rate to
remain below the supposed NAIRU has provided more than ten times the
economic gains claimed for deficit reduction or major trade agreements.
Baker calculates that total wage income for workers in the lowest-paid fifth
of the workforce was approximately 16 percent higher in the first half of
2000 than it would have been had the Federal Reserve held unemployment at
the estimated NAIRU. Despite these achievements, Fed policymakers remain
skittish about low levels of joblessness.