applying that to some neo classical model it's hokum some of the questions that have been asked of ben bernanke you before congress and then recently alan greenspan was asked this too in several interviews with the fed going to be able to withdraw some of this money that they've been creating over the past year or two how. are they going to avoid inflation and i think you me in a way the environment the collapse of the environment around the world is the way it is a big sinkhole for all of this capital being created absolutely two thousand and eleven year of the flood the year two thousand and ten was one of the worst years in world history for high impact floods but just three weeks into the new year two thousand and eleven has already had an entire year's worth of mega floods those are the sort of environmental collapse is the deflation they need to offset the virtual inflation the forest burns up one a desert desert for cation kicks in and china it's no longer viable economically and that's deflation and they'll say well we needed that to offset our inflation so at the end of the day you end

as well and they're charging up to thirty thirty five percent right but it makes sense i mean ben bernanke has a same idea doesn't quantitative easing is floating a few trillion dollars in bonds for to save two and a half percent on interest in the meantime loading on the economy trillions of dollars worth of extra liability of course mervyn king over there at the bank of england is just as florida's ben bernanke you know they're. idea of economics is one where having people consume themselves to death is beneficial to the economy as a whole marvin kang what's wrong with what he would ben bernanke if you could have a hot tub and go back to school and learn a few things so the stakes here were thanks so much once again for being on the kaiser report thank you already when i come back i'll be talking to james howard kunstler about this stuff and much more so don't go away stay there. hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. is filled with joy. with parades and. inspiring people confuse us. but it was everything really go

to death is beneficial to the economy as a whole mervyn king what's wrong with it what he will ben bernanke you should have a hot tub and go back to school and learn a few things so stay sarah thanks so much once again for being on the kaiser report thank you may already when i come back i'll be talking to james howard kunstler about this stuff and much more so don't go away stay there. hungry for the full story we've gone to. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. the official implication. from the. lights on the good. video. smiling. and st now with the palm of your. question on the comb. all right we're back with the kaiser report special guest right here in the studio james howard kunstler these the author of the long emergency and most recently the which. he bron or hebron depending on whether you want to pronounce that correctly and welcome the kaiser for james howard kunstler thank you max what brings you to europe i really just wanted to get out of the usa for christmas didn't want to be caught in the wall in the wal-mart crush well that's a global p

as ben bernanke and you know their idea of economics is one where having people consume themselves to death is beneficial to the economy as a whole mervyn king what's wrong with it what he would ben bernanke if you could have a hot tub and go back to school and learn a few things so the stakes here were thanks so much once again for being on the kaiser report thank you max already when i come back i'll be talking to james howard kunstler about this stuff and much more so don't go away stay there. we'll. bring you deleted some science and technology from the realms where. we go to the future or covered. right. from. the start on t.v. . all right we're back with the cause report special guest right here in the studio james howard kunstler he's the author of the long emergency and most recently the which of he bron or hebron depending on whether you want to pronounce that correctly and welcome to the kaiser report james howard kunstler thank you max what brings you to europe i really just wanted to get out of the usa for christmas didn't want to be caught in the wall in the wal-mart crus

as ben bernanke and you know their idea of economics is one where having people consume themselves to death is beneficial to the economy as a whole mervyn king what's wrong with it what he would ben bernanke if you could have a hot tub and go back to school and learn a few things so the stakes here were thanks so much once again for being on the kaiser report thank you may already when i come back i'll be talking to james howard kunstler about this stuff and much more so don't go away stay there. no no. no. no no let it we will not i'm not trying to prop up and spread all over the country. virtually all terrorists today or most what do we have the right to make such provocative statements and do muslim schools have the right to exist. new york city. the official implication. from the. lights on the. video. feeds now in the palm of your. home. all right we're back with the kaiser report special guest right here in the studio james howard kunstler he's the author of the long emergency and most recently the which. he bron or hebron depending on whether you want to pronounce that correctl

of extra liability of course mervyn king over there at the bank of england is just as florida's ben bernanke you know there are. idea of economics is one where having people consume themselves to death is beneficial to the economy as a whole mervyn king what's wrong with it what he would ben bernanke if he could have a hot tub and go back to school and learn a few things so the stakes here were thanks so much once again for being on vert kaiser report thank you already when i come back i'll be talking to james howard kunstler about this stuff and much more so don't go away stay there. hungry for the full story we've got. the biggest issues get the human voice face to face with the news makers. sergeant of the israeli defense forces. during his service scorched a street fight. from the colonel of the chilean armed forces participated in keeping down a military revolt. the sergeant of the u.s. army. tried to become an american by taking part in the. ranks and reasons differ but one thing brings them together once they disobeyed. all right we're back with the kaiser report special guest right h

. >> chairman ben bernanke said 40% of those unemployed now have been out of a job at least six monthswe're going to take a look how wall street is reacting to the jobs report. the dow down over 51 points. actually been down all day. bernanke says the country still has a long road ahead of them. >> this rate of improvement it could take four to five more years for the job market to normlize fully. >> it wasn't all doom and gloom as ben bernanke spoke before congress over two hours this morning. he said consumers are continuing to spell money. as for the housing market? >> the housing market remains depressed as the overhang of basic houses weighs heavilily against construction and non-residential construction is also quite weak. >> the president gave a more optimistic forecast in maryland even though he admits the country is recovering from a brutal recession. 8 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009. last year the u.s. gained just over a million back. >> we know these numbers can bounce around from month to month. but the trend is clear. we saw 12 straight months of private sector job gro

. >>> fed chief ben bernanke ben bernanke will deliver a more encouraging message than usual when he testifies on capitol hill later this morning. the head of the central bank is saying he's growing more confident about the economic recovery. hoe'll also defend the new plan to buy back government debt and warns lawmakers that now is not the time to pull the plug on the program. >>> facebook looks like it's ready to friend wall street. because the social networking giant will soon have more private investors than federal law allows, the company may not have a choice but to take the company public. "the wall street journal" reports an initial public offering of stocks could happen as soon as april of next year. facebook could pull in close to a billion dollars in profit this year alone. >>> verizon, the largest wireless operatener the u.s. has unveiled ten smartphones and other gadgets with built-in access to its new 4 g network. the devices include the new xoom tablet. until now only sold laptop cards for its super fast network. >>> and, finally, reports show music sales fell sharply

. >> susie: also in washington today, federal reserve chief ben bernanke told lawmakers on capitol hill that a normal economy is still years away. we have two reports looking at bernanke's testimony and the outlook for the job market. we begin with suzanne pratt in new york. >> reporter: this is the proverbial hole the u.s. labor market still needs to climb out from. creating 100,000 new jobs a month, as we did in december, only keeps the hole from getting deeper. over the past three months, the economy has added an average of 128,000 jobs. that's just enough to keep pace with population growth. and, it's too little to cause a significant drop in the unemployment rate. economist julia coronado explains companies are holding back on hiring for reasons beyond just consumer spending. in addition, they now have the worry that other input costs pressures are rising. so, we're seeing lots of commodity pressures and they're worried about their operating profits getting squeezed. so, that makes them conservative. yes, the unemployment rate fell to 9.4% last month. but, experts say that happened

that's why the unemployment rate went down. >> couric: as we just heard, fed chairman ben bernanke said it may take as long as five years for us to get out of this recovery. but i know you visited a city where it's really going strong right now. >> reporter: well, yeah. the brookings institute just looked at how well cities had emerged from the recession, and these are among the top cities in the united states. the rankings are based largely on job creation and the ability to recover house price values. as you can see, five of the ten are in texas, with the state capital austin at the top of the list. and that's where we went this week. >> welcome on board. >> reporter: every time the austin, texas company bazarrvoice adds a new employee, they bang a gong. the gong rang 240 times last year at bazarrvoice, the five- year-old company which hosts and analyzes web site customer feedback for clients like best buy and macy's. kelly grey was the latest hire this week. after moving to austin from connecticut with her husband and two kids, it took grey just a month to find her job as a client ma

--al menos eso indica una encuesta de la reserva federal que puso optimista a su titular "ben bernankesar de ello, la semana pasada el funcionario asevero que volver a los niveles de desempleo que tenia el pais antes de la recesion tomara unos cinco aÑos.--"bernanke" mostro preocupacion por la recurrente caida del valor de las casas y el aumento al precio de la gasolina, que podrian arrastrar al pais a una nueva crisis. ---al menos 140 personas murieron por las lluvias torrenciales que castigaron la región montañosa de río de janeiro.---hoy, socorristas con maquinaria pesada, palas e incluso con las manos removían toneladas de barro y escombros en busca de sobrevivientes. ---en "teresópolis", 65 kilómetros al norte de río de janeiro, los torrentes de agua estrellaron autos contra los árboles y las montañas se derrumbaron, sepultando casas bajo toneladas de tierra roja. ---hoy por la mañana dejo de llover, pero la tierra saturada de agua sigue inestable y amenaza a las poblaciones levantadas en las empinadas colinas. ==top vo==---en los cuatro aÑos que pasaron desde que el presidente de

and then comments from fed chief ben bernanke will follow there after.is where we start today. facebook which is all about sharing personal information may soon unbe unable to keep their financial information secret. the wall street journal reports in that memo that facebook plans to pass the 500 shareholder mark which means it would have to go public or disclose financial results. facebook is not commenting on the report. >>> time now 5:19. california's insurance commissioner wants blue shield to delay plans to raise its rates. a 60 day moratorium will give it time to review its plans. he's also calling on wall street to give his agencies the power for excessive rate hikes. right now it appears there is nothing in state law that would allow him to stap the increases. >>> a new state study reveals a sharp difference in death rates in local hospitals. so how does your hospital fair? >>> and californians are on the edge of disaster. >>> westbound bay bridge incline traffic looks pretty good. we'll tell you more straight ahead. the moment you feel run down

ben bernanke is expected to reflect nor confidence in hiring as he testifies here on capitol hill in 15 minutes and later this morning president obama is going to be visiting a small business that is booming here in the d.c. area he will talk about the jobs report and introduce some new members of his economic team. we'll cover it all for you here on ktvu. for now we are live here in washington, d.c.. >> thank you. >>> the new house of representatives starts debating a call to repeal health care reform. a procedural vote comes first to set the rules for a final vote next wednesday. house republicans want to repeal president obama's health care overall. the vote is mostly symbolic though democratics say they will block any vote to repeal health care reform. >>> the state department is warning hundreds of people in wikileaks documents that their lives might be in danger. foreign government officials and even business people have been moved to safe locations. there is concern that the cables are endangering people that have supplied valuable information to the u.s.. >>> the illinois hou

. >>> about an hour after the unemployment report came out, fed chief ben bernanke offered an optimistic point of view. he says that the business climate will be better because of a spend being boost by consumers and i am employers. taking in all this news right now on wall street, stocks are down mainly because of the figure showing fewer u.s. jobs created in december than expected. the dow is currently down 41 at 11655. nasdaq and s&p also down slightly. >>> also bringing the numbers down, the massachusetts high court ruling on foreclosures. the courts ruled that wells fargo did not have a right to foreclose on two particular homes because they securitized and repackaged mortgages. virtually all bakes have the his -- virtually, all banks have a history of doing the same thing. that's driven down bank stocks. >>> and in silicon valley, an announcement aimed at creating more jobs especially for asian americans and pacific islanders. >>> san francisco officials say that it's was probably vehicle exhaust that sickened four guests. the four were staying in rooms on the flute of the marriott

ben bernanke is on capitol hill talking about it. he predicts hiring will continue in the months ahead. but he's concerned it won't be enough. >> this could threaten the strength and sustainability of the economy. 40% of the unemployed have been out of work for six month ors more. >> reporter: benber nan kay thinks it will be five more years before the job situation, normalizes. reporting live from washington, d.c., alison burns, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you. >>> it is 8:14. just moments ago, the house of representatives, took the first step. voting largely along party lines this morning. the house set the rules for the debate and vote next week on repealing the legislation. the vote will be mostly symbolic because democratic leaders in the senate said they will -- said they will block any -- and they say the republican plans to repeal the healthcare law would drive up the federal deficit by $230 billion in the next years. >>> the state department is w arning hundreds of people that their lives may be in danger because their nam

>> if you wanted to talk about one person, i would pick out ben bernanke, because he stepped down in the fall of 2008 and provided the backstop to these financial markets there were collapsing. financial institutions that were used to borrowing, some sources that were not able to borrow, banks were not lending, the commercial paper market, a source of short-term credit for businesses and for financial institutions, was freezing up. ben bernanke and the federal reserve stepped in and created an array of very complicated liquidity institutions inside the fed that provides -- that is it we substituted for private credit, so that the collapse of these markets was arrested, and the hysteria and panic that people were feeling at the time was basically stopped in the economy stabilized. but i would say that a lot of people -- now, go back a little bit before that and you say that bernanke and the federal reserve did not anticipate this crisis and they conceivably might have prevented it if they had anticipated it earlier, so this is kind of a double-edged sword. if they had better policies

interesting to hear the fed chairman ben bernanke reflecting on this today.our to five years, years for the job market to normlize. that's his comment this morning. investors getting a report on what bernanke has to say. very close look. they don't think it's a disaster. not seeing big gains and not big losses either. kind of same ole same ole. hardly any movement. maybe they're confused as many of us are. the silicon valley valley trading just slightly lower at the moment. facebook.com making more and more friends every day. pretty soon so many friendly investors, it's going to have to start reporting its financial results by the spring of 2012. palo alto based facebook.com to have 500 shareholders and when you reach that point you report your financial results even if you're not a publicly traded company. goldman sachs, hundreds of millions of dollars. also raising money from other investors with intention of plowing it into the popular net working site. denny's continuing to offer its kids eat free program from 4:00 to 10:00 certain days of the week. call

federal reserve chairman ben bernanke expects the u.s. economy to grow between 3% and 4% this year. speaking at a small business lending forum, bernanke said that should help the lending environment continue to improve. but a warning for uncle sam from two big credit rating agencies. moody's and standard and poor's both say the united states' triple-a credit rating is in danger of a downgrade because of the nation's soaring deficit. >> tom: still ahead, "street critique" guest hilary kramer's got her eye on a couple of medical stocks on the mend. and she answers your questions. she's editor of gamechangerstocks.com. >> susie: our next guest is head of the worlds biggest money management firm, blackrock. larry fink is chairman and c.e.o., presiding over $3.5 trillion of assets. yes, that's trillion. it's almost twice as big as its nearest rivals-- state street, fidelity, and pimco. when i met with fink at blackrock's new york headquarters today, he told me why this is going to be a good year for stocks. our government has gone quite a bit in trying to reduce the impact of the credit

consistent with research on the effects of asset purchases between august when ben bernanke in a speech publicly suggested the federal reserve might take additional action and november when the action was taken longer term treasury rates fell as market participants priced in additional fed purchases. since the announcement of the decision to purchase long-term treasury longer-term rates have increased. it might seem the recent increase in rates contradict the view that asset purchases put downward pressure on rates. the logic behind this view works in both directions. if the market expects the fed to respond to weak economic conditions by buying more assets investors bid up the assets and rates fall. conversely if the market expects the economy to strength and investors ratchet back expectations for fed purchases, reduce access and rates rise. the current rise in rates is exactly due to this latter circumstance. the outlook for the economy in a corresponding decrease in market expectation for future accommodation. one of concern that has been raised about asset purchases is resulting ex

last friday federal reserve chairman he ben bernanke said a self-sustaining recovery in personal consumption business spending may be taking hold in the u.s. economy. he was speaking to the u.s. senate. at the same time it is expected that obama's extension of the tax cuts and unemployment benefits will stimulate -- will continue to stimulate the economy. >> okay. what's that news, then? >> first, as the earlier report showed, the budget deficit is ballooning. it is estimated to top $1.5 trillion this year. the second concern is the sluggish housing market due to rising interest rates. the housing market is one of the pillars of the u.s. economy. and speaking of which, the third concern that needs to be addressed is the jobless situation in the united states. the u.s. unemployment rate has stood above 9% for 20 straight months now. bernanke said it still needs another four to five years for labor market to stabilize. >> then what more needs to be done? >> i spoke with alan blinder about that. he is a former vice chairman of the federal reserve and currently an economics professor at princeto

federal reserve chairman ben bernanke is scheduled to testify about his view of economic recovery. and certainly any drop in the unemployment rate would be welcome. but chairman bernanke has said it could take years to drop from where the numbers are now, from just under 10% at a more healthy rate at 5.5%. mike? >> emily schmidt, in washington. thank you. >>> the battle to repeal health care reform legislation is under way. house republicans held a first meeting on a measure they call, repealing the job-killing health care act. the house is likely to vote on it next week. but it's likely to be blocked in the senate. >>> day two of the republicans' new leadership in the house included a reading of the constitution, from beginning to end. speaker john boehner red the preamble. nancy pelosi went next. all went well, until a new jersey congressman read the section on requirements for the presidency. >> no person, except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the united states, at the time of the adoption of the constitution, shall be eligible to be in the office of president. you need

an hour later, ben bernanke testifies before the budget committee about the economy. we haven't heard from them in sometime. be assured the markets will be listening to what he has to say. asian and european markets are flat. it affects economies around the world. everyone in the holding pattern before we get the actual data. stocks flipped thursday after a report showed first time unemployment filings jumped back above 400,000. not great news. the dow fell 25 points to 11,697. nasdaq about d rise to 2709. facebook may friend an ipo. the company will have start coughing up details or go public by next fall. they will pass the 500 shareholder threshold that triggers a rule requireing it to disclose financial information even if it hasn't filed for an ipo. become to you. >> the first numbers we are seeing on facebook. >>> your i tunes account could be for sale. the chinese equivalent of ebay is listing 50,000 i tunes accounts up for sale. the buyers are told to access the account within 12 hours to download aps and movies and the like and after that the account is likel

later this week retail and auto sales and ben bernanke goes before congress. the dow rose and that's where trading begins in 2011. the nasdaq slipped to 2652. your neighbor in palo alto is getting big or paper. goldman sachs invested $500 million in facebook that values the company at $50 billion. facebook is bigger than ebay, yahoo or time-warner if it were a publicly traded company. right now it is private. financial times said facebook try and failed to buy twitter in 2008. they wanted to be a viable business on their own instead of being taken over. back to you. >> iphone users in the u.s. should wake up on time if they're using the alarm clock feature. the fix is in the works for iphone. many overslept the first day of the year because of a problem in the phone's alarm feature. apple is reassuring customers it should start working properly today, but some in asia and europe did complain the alarms still weren't working right. for anyone who stores video or photos or do you means on their home computer, a major concern is making sure they stay there or at

. >> it wasn't all doom and gloom as ben bernanke spoke before congress over two hours this morning.e said consumers are continuing to spell money. as for the housing market? >> the housing market remains depressed as the overhang of basi houses weighs heavilily against construction and non-residential construction is also quite weak. >> the president gave a more optimistic forecast in maryland even thoh he admits the country is recoring from a brutal recession. 8 million jobs lost in 2008 and 2009. last year the u.s. gained just over a millio back. >> we know these numbers can bounce around from month to month. but the trend is clear we saw 12 straight months of prive sector job growth. that's the first time that's been true since 2006. >> this morning the president also named washington veteran gene sperling from the clinton era to head his national economic council. he says sperling halls a record of turning budget deficits into surpluses. >> a moody's report says the tech industry in calirnia is seeing stronger performances but is being overshowed by the slow revery of constructi

specifically criticized in one way or another, federal reserve chairman alan greenspan and ben bernanke, as well as treasury secretaries hank paulson and tim geithner. geithner in his previous role with the federal reserve. >> regulator after regulator, they either chose not to act or turned a blind eye to what was actually going on. >> reporter: the panel also said in examining wall street's conduct, it found several possible criminal violations in need of further investigation. >> those have been sent to the proper authorities to examine. >> reporter: many former regulators have been critical of the government's failure to hold anyone accountable. three years after 4%meltdown, not a single major player has been charged with criminal wrongdoing. after the much smaller savings and loan crisis of the '80s, hundreds were prosecuted, including top executives. today republican members of the panel issued their own report, saying the majority's was too simplistic and largely ignores the global nature of the crisis. it is a critically important issue for this country. >> reporter: like almost

. >> reporter: testifying before the senate budget committee today, ben bernanke said he too is concerned about the job numbers and said it could take four to five years for the job market to fully recovery. brian? >> kevin, thanks. kevin tibbles starting us off on a cold night in chicago tonight. >>> president obama put a positive spin on these jobs numbers today at an event in maryland. he toured a window factory where he named gene spurling as the new head of the national economic council. spurling held the exact same job in the clinton administration. he's been working as an adviser to treasury secretary geithner and spurling replaces larry somers who has gone back to work at harvard. >>> we're just back from washington, of course, where we interviewed the new republican speaker of the house, john boehner. the newly gop controlled house, but remember, the democrats still control the senate. in an interview for sunday's "meet the press," the senate majority leader, harry reid, having just survived re-election narrowly in nevada against a tea party candidate, told david gregory the tea

it singles out fed chairman alan greenspan and ben bernanke in particular for criticism. the report also says contrary to popular belief, the government's push to increase home ownership in this country was not a major contributor to the melted down. meanwhile, the east is being hit by another big snowstorm, the fifth in five weeks. this one moved up from tennessee heading toward maine and could dump as much as a foot of snow in some places. this is quickly becoming one of the worst winters on record. meanwhile, clearing all those roads over and over and over again is getting very expensive. whit johnson is in boston tonight, and whit, this is a real budget buster. >> reporter: katie, absolutely. many parts of the northeast are getting hit with more feet of snow in a month than they usually get all winter. this one, this storm is now parking itself over boston and it's going to intensify overnight. >> we can handle it but some people are wimping out with snow. >> reporter: over four feet of snow in 30 days is enough to weaken the toughest of cities. boston's snow removal

federal reserve chief ben bernanke testifies before the senate budget committee. and president obama announces his new economic team. also, our friday "market monitor" is bernie schaeffer, chairman of schaeffer's investment research. >> susie: facebook will soon be more investor-friendly. the social-networking giant will begin disclosing financial information, or go public by april of next year. that's according to a memo to potential investors. meanwhile, goldman sachs is expected to close the book on client orders for private facebook shares, after being hit with huge demand-- as much as a billion and a half dollars worth. goldman values facebook at $50 billion. >> tom: his psychiatrists say accused ponzi schemer allan stanford is not fit to stand trial. the doctors say the former financier is addicted to drugs and depressed. today's testimony was part of a hearing in houston federal court on whether to postpone the january 24 start of stanford's trial. stanford wants a two-year delay. prosecutors suggest he's faking mental illness. stanford is accused of leadin

in one, federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says only one of the country's big financial firms was on solid footing during the crisis. but he doesn't say which one. >> susie: so tom, 12,000 on the dow, 1300 on the s&p during trading hours but didn't close there. psychologist who study investor behavior say that there is some worries about round number whence it comes to these milestones so didn't happen today. maybe it's tomorrow or next week. >> tom: maybe, lots of after hours news that we mentioned at the top of the program could put a bit of a bid into the market by tomorrow. we'll have to wait and see. but clearly those big round numbers will remain in focus here. speaking of, let's get to tonight's market focus. another day of slim gains, but any gains mean the major indices hit new post-recession highs. but some of the buying may be interrupted tomorrow, if some after-hours trading is any indication. we mentioned the microsoft earnings at the top of the program. after the close, shares fell about 1% from this closing price, which is the highest since may. meantime, amazon cam

. >> today fed chief ben bernanke said it could take up to five years for the unemployment rate to drop to a more normal rate of about 6%. >>> the feds are vowing to fight blue shield's proposed rate hikes. the san francisco-based insurer raised premiums twice since october and plans on another increase march 1. for some policyholders those three hikes would add up to a 59% hike in premiums. now the u.s. health and human services secretary is backing the state insurance commissioner who wants to delay the hikes. blue shield says it needs to raise rates due to rising healthcare costs. >>> with republicans now this charge, today the u.s. house took the first step to repeal president obama's healthcare overhaul. in this morning's test vote, the house set rules for formal debate and final action next week. republicans want a more modest less expensive plan starting all over with the plan. democrats who still control the senate say they will block repeal. >>> coming up, the common grocery store products that have been deceptively downsized. ,, ,, 3q copd makes it hard to breathe so i wasn't

federal reserve chairman ben bernanke says the country's economy will likely grow 3% to 4% in the year ahead. >> we see the economy strengthening. it's looked better in the last few months. and we think a 3% to 4% type of growth number for 2011 seems reasonable. >> bernanke made the comment in a speech on thursday. he also said deflationary pressures have eased quite a bit. but he added that while the job market is doesn't expect a big reduction in the unemployment rate anytime soon. observers say bernanke's relatively upbeat comments are aimed at supporting the positive impact from the fed's extra credit-boosting measures, which have been widely criticized. >>> the european central bank has decided to keep its main interest rate at its lowest level ever amid continued credit uncertainty for some euro members. the bank held a meeting of its governing council in frankfurt on thursday and decided to keep the rate at 1% for the 20th consecutive month. since may 2009 the ecb's refinancing rate has stood at 1%, the lowest sint t yefest si introduction of the euro. the decision comes at a ti