it's going to take a few more years for the u.s. economy to recover. that's what the federal reserve said today, wrapping its two-day policy meeting. policymakers said they would keep interest rates near zero for at least two more years. tom, the fed hopes super-low rates will make it easier for consumers and businesses to borrow money and then spend it boosting growth. >> tom: susie, this timetable is much longer than investors expected. the fed was expected to start raising rates by mid 2013, but a quick look at the fed's economic outlook explains what's behind the change in plans. the central bank described economic growth in the coming months as modest. unemployment as still high and inflation subdued. >> susie: also today, the fed made history by releasing the forecasts of its key policymakers, showing that only a handful want to raise interest rates quickly and most prefer to wait until 2014 or longer. darren gersh reports. >> reporter: for the first time, chairman ben bernanke and his colleagues at the federal reserve laid out their long- goals f

we have them talking about the economy. hasn't the president really began making them come back to what the american people are really concerned about? >> well, there's not a lot of times i'd say i'd agree with newt gingrich. mitt romney does have a lot of nerve talking about foreclosures. not only because he invested $500,000 in fannie and freddie, but because a few months ago, remember reverend al he said he didn't think we should do anything to help people remain in their homes. we should just let the housing crisis hit rock bottom and let investors come in and scoop up the properties and sell them for a profit. the other day here in florida, he suggested to homeowners who were struggling to be able to remain in their homes that maybe they could buy each other's houses and swap. i mean, that's how dramatically out of touch he is. then today we learned when it comes to his finances, he didn't include a swiss bank account in his financial disclosure when he filed for president. you want to talk about an oops moment? i've be

how is the german economy saved here's a hint. it wasn't for letting the free economy do its work and it wasn't because the german government said we have no money so let's cut spending now the german economy and nation was saved through massive government spending through the marshall plan we gave huge amounts of money to germany to rebuild and the germans did rebuild they got the food they needed they got their economy back on its feet again and today germany is the fourth largest economy in the world and the largest economy in europe that's what government spending does when an economy is destroyed but austerity holds back the much needed food it cuts off the demand for goods and services the puts people back to work and resuscitate the economy and lets the enter of recession just continue to eat away and eat away until the body economy dies it'll make debt worse since people aren't collecting paychecks and paying taxes but instead are getting government benefits so revenues go down and expenses go up i as world renowned economi

that is the obama economy. that's why it's so important, and we've repeated before, that republicans in the senate are ready to work with this president and with the democrats on pieces of legislation that will actually create jobs. if you look at how many bills passed the house of representatives, there are over 20 bills that have come over to the senate awaiting action. i offered an amendment to the current bill on the floor today that has broad bipartisan support, passed by the house of representatives 411 to 13 that we ought to be taking up that would make it easier for small businesses and entrepreneurs to get access to the capital they need to grow their businesses. those are the types of things we ought to be working on. unfortunately that stuff gets to the floor of the united states senate or gets to the united states senate and gets put on a shelf. we're not talking about the types of things that guess people back to work. that's what has the american people most frustrated. that's why i hope democrats

the economy is not a fixed pie. when you expand the labor curve, a simple economist will say the price of labor goes down and we're all hurt. the more people that work here, the more people that are chasing jobs and we're all doomed. wrong. the expansion of the available labor force creates opportunities that did not exist before. you have innovation and entrepreneurialism that increases the actual size of small and medium-sized businesses. they consume and that expands the demand curve. you have a dynamic economy for 90% of u.s. born workers that enhances their wages. the other 9% got whacked up side the head with globalization and immigration and everything you can list and they need help. getting rid of immigrants doesn't really help them. the final point is if you look at the last 15 years, 25% of publicly traded companies in the united states are essentially from the bay area region and one out of four was started by an immigrant. we have great data on this because it's all transparent. you can look it up. you c

so the economy remains very important but i think it's about the future direction of this country.s about how are we going to get some of the long term budget deficits under control. those are kind of issues i think are playing into the politics this time. >> tom: back to the iowa economy. what does the state's economy in the small state in a generally agriculture state tell us about the nation's overall economic health? >> well i think in this case iowa isn't necessarily a good example of what the candidates are going to see as they go around to other 125eu9 states ao other primaries. we are still significantly driven by the agriculture sector here which of course has been actually doing quite well. agriculture had two of its best years ever in 2010 and 2011. over the course of the last 0 or 30 years we've diversified that agricultural base both afterring as well as financial services through companies like principal financial groups. so today our state here in iowa represents a diversified mix that has muddled through, if you will, this economy in a fairly decent fashion, frankly

find out what's really happening to the global economy cars report on. before the break i played the first part of my interview with former vice chairman of the federal reserve alan blinder in the second segment i asked him what if anything the fed can really do at this point given that it's already created so much new money and that pulling that money back into the central bank would create the exact type of depression that the fed has been so desperately trying to avoid basically is this type of thing a rock and a hard place. wasn't the fed's role in creating the bubble in the first place in other words creating help helping to create massive amounts of credit to the bigger issue before instead of stepping in to fill the gap think so i think it's much as i was saying before you can you can look back and you know you can look back to ninety nine as we were just doing and say well the federal reserve should have been a little tighter that probably of sure that you could look back to one nine hundred twenty nine and probably make the same case of the feder

romney will be good on the economy. itt romney is running for president? >> you've also noted that there are signs of improvement on the horizon in the economy. how do you answer the president's argument that the economy is getting better in a general election campaign if you yourself are saying it's getting better? >> of course it's getting better. the economy always gets better after a recession, there is always a recovery. >> of course the economy is getting better. this is mitt romney speaking today on the conservative radio host -- radio show hosted by laura ingram. >> isn't it a hard argument to say you're saying he inherited the recession, took a bunch of steps to turn the economy around and now we're seeing more jobs, but vote against him anyway? isn't that a hard argument to make, is that a stark enough contrast? >> have you got a better one, laura, this happens to be the truth. >> if mitt romney does get to be the republican nominee for president this year, do you want to know what the ads in the general electi

good news today on the u.s. economy: it grew in the fourth quarter at its fastest pace in more than year. but susie, even that growth rate was still quite modest. >> susie: tom, most of the growth came as american businesses restocked their shelves and as american consumers spent more money. let's look at the details. the commerce department reported that the nation's gross domestic product-- the value of goods and services produced in the u.s.-- rose 2.8% between october and december. but many economists were expecting 3%. >> tom: while clearly not a red hot economy by any stretch of the imagination, there are concerns over whether the u.s. can keep up even this tepid growth rate. erika miller reports from new york. >> reporter: if you want to know what's in store for the economy, it helps to come to this store. eneslow in manhattan does not just sell shoes, it makes them in a workshop downstairs. when the economy is doing well, shoppers splurge. >> when things are good, they're going to want that second color or they

one of the things that is quite striking about the u.s. economy, we talked a lot about it being a very hot flexible mobile workforce. not so much anymore. used to be and that is true if you go back to 1945 into the 90's that was certainly the case. one in five americans moved to the cities but never got so much anymore. it's more like one in ten. etd the devotee level of the skill level and even at the regional and geographical level should think how we solve for that. what is interesting is the dÉjÀ with that germany comes to mind. it's a lot easier to get the market information about what skills the companies are hiring for, where the job sectors are growing, that information is more available than it is here and what the outcome. it's quite striking when you look at this recession for example on a ggp basis, there's a deeper recession than we did actually. and yet there are good jobs in the same period with less infrastructure but on the basis in germany in a lot more jobs. >> on the notion that the u.s. is on the sector issue if you constrain

doing it very quickly slows the economy down. if you wait too long, you end up with debt that's much, much harder to manage. and so there are number of ways in which the congress could put off the expiration of the tax revisions set to expire. but not put those off indefinitely. or if put those things off indefinitely, then other very large changes need to be made in the deficit. it's not our place to recommend any specifics. >> comments of doug elmendorf earlier in the day. according to cbo forecast, the deficit will begin to drop between 20123 and 2022, deficits that would drop down from the current 2% of the current gdp to the 1%. it will be an issue that the republicans will be using against the president and the democrats in this election year. the washington post asking jay carney about all of this including the unemployment projections which indicate the up employment rate that has dropped, over the next ten to 12 months. >> the cbo has a report out today on the deficit and unemployment through 2013, the administration has

five percent maybe obama's policies contribute maybe they don't maybe it's cyclical in any event the economy is improving and these republicans don't have answers so they want to talk about the social issues the heart issues the ones that make you go out and vote make you make phone calls get people to come out to the polls they scare you it works before it worked many times before the just trying to use the same play from the old republican playbook i think that's a really good point and there is a notion out there that the reason that this is happening is that people vote with their hearts and not with their heads there are plenty of one issue voters in this country i've met plenty of them who vote on the candidate who agrees with them on you know one issue for example guns or abortion do you think this is most of america i mean you said you saw this poll that says most americans care about jobs right now but why and it's not just the candidates let's be honest here are the moderators of these debates are asking them about things like contraceptives. they're trying to find something that's

gwen: but is the economy rebounding quickly enough? covering the week, dan balz of the "washington post." john dickerson of "slate" magazine and cbs news, jackie calmes of the "new york times," and david wessel of "the wall street journal." >> award winning reporting and analysis, covering history as it happens. live in our nation's capital, this is "washington week with gwen ifill & national journal," pursuitsed -- corporate funding for "washington week" is provided by -- >> it's a powerful thing. it connects the global economy to your living room. cleaner air to stronger markets. factory floors to less crowded roads. today's progress to tomorrow's promise. norfolk southern. one line, infinite possibilities. >> this rock has never stood still. since 1875, we've been there for our clients through good times and bad. when their needs changed, we were there to meet them. through the years to insurance to investment management, from real estate to retirement solutions, we'veedevopel newop ideas for the financial challenges ahead. this rock

same time there are concerns about the economy about housing about the fact that it is export driven and could be hurt by the eurozone crisis and be affected by moves in currencies that sort of thing so there are concerns and there are also concerns that you point to which is this perception of china and the reports i was reading coming out of the conversations had today and some of these sessions is that china is facing a perception problem that western countries think that maybe china is out to have a resource grab and a technology grab and not playing by the rules and china says the participants that spoke today said china is just trying to invest their money and not lose it not watch the the value of it diminish and that is why for the foreign investment in the sort of thing but what you can really see this clearly is if you look at it through the lens of what we've seen in the united states where you have high unemployment and people see china is growing and people accuse that china has taken manufacturing jobs and us politicians and maybe the media use that

from the oil economy to something else we've got heaps of people with lots of brains and we need to be doing something about the environment do you think those people with brains are in positions of power. so it seems like with the system that's currently in place for how world leaders get elected it might be time for solutions to come from someplace. all right let's talk now about something that for those of us who live and work in washington is almost part of our daily life the business of influencing congress now despite the fact that a gallup poll found lobbying to be a profession that rates lower in public opinion surveys than car sales and telemarketing is a big business and very influential one that plays a major role in which policies eventually become laws so today we're going to talk to a man who once who was once considered the most powerful lobbyist in washington he was later convicted of committing fraud in two thousand and eight two thousand and six excuse me and served three and a half years behind bars he's out of prison now

you have to conclude, bad for the economy. >> all right. steve, you answer that. >> well, that's completely false, about the nlrb. and they are not able to-- >> and where are the-- >> they're not able to false management and labor and not able to bring in binding arbitration as the employee free choice act called for. there's zero correlation between strong economy, weak labor. when our economy was the biggest part of the world's economy in the 1950's was when we were at the peak of our unionization. >> 1950. today in germany, which is doing quite well economic dri, there's been workers have 50% of the representation on the board of directors. they call it co-determination and also, finally, in 2009. suppose we passed the employee free choice act. we would have had an increase in wages and that's when it matters, when you have an economic down turn and you don't have the drop off in consumer demands. >> i've got to let toby get in here. >> like on al gore side. and if this was so great. why would indiana have the first order of business to m

back on its feet again and today germany is the fourth largest economy in the world and the largest economy in europe that's what government spending does when an economy is destroyed but austerity holds back the much needed food it cuts off the demand for goods and services the puts people back to work and resuscitate the economy and lets the anorexia of recession just continue to eat away and eat away until the body economy dies it'll make debt worse since people aren't collecting paychecks and paying taxes but instead are getting government benefits so revenues go down and expenses go up i ask world renowned economist steve keen why austerity is even an option and he gave me this blunt answer. pretty even without something as stupid as a master of trading austerity actually pushes you backwards and each time you attempt to do it you end up with a bigger dip problem than you had beforehand why would these people buy into this notion that you can somehow cut yourself to prosperity i think it's because unfortunately a totally in sign theory of economics which is suff

the economy is not a fixed pie. when you expand the labor curve, a simple economist will say the price of labor goes down and we're all hurt. the more people that work here, the more people that are chasing jobs and we're all doomed. wrong. the expansion of the available labor force creates opportunities that did not exist before. you have innovation and entrepreneurialism that increases the actual size of small and medium-sized businesses. they consume and that expands

will the economy do the same? what the all-important jobs report says and what it means. >> cancer will fall to the acts of science. >> the fight against a deadly disease from a man on the front lines, the ceo of the presti prestigious cancer center and how it may become a manageable disease. >>> goldie hawn, a funny lady wh takes her life very seseriously. the "wall street journal report." now, maria bartiromo. >> maria will be here with the rest of the program in just a moment, but first here's a look at what's making news as we head into a new week on wall street. the unemployment rate fell to its lowest level in nrly three years in december. the economy added 200,000 fresh jobs andhe unemployment rate ticked down to 8.5%, both numbers better than the economy had expected, and that's better in three months in which the economy generated 100,000 or more jobs each month. the markets kicked off the new year with a bang. the dow 180 points on tuesday in a holiday shortened week. the averages were flat midweek and f

. >>> fairness and the economy. can one presidential election really fix what's broken in america's economic system? i'm ali velshi. welcome to "your money." president obama delivered his state of the union address earlier this week. critics would call it his first major campaign speech in his bid to win re-election. now, in that election he'll need an opponent, and just days before tuesday's critical gop primary in florida, mitt romney was in jacksonville to let voters know he was less than impressed with the president's economic message. >> he said he was the candidate of change, but you still have 25 million people out of work. you still have almost 10% unemployment here in florida. you still have home values down and continuing to go down. you still have record number of foreclosures in florida. you still have median incomes suffering, middle income families suffering. >> florida is an epicenter of the housing crisis that put us into the great recession of 2008 and 2009. cnn senior political analyst david gergen

they expect the u.s. economy to grow by 1.8% in year 2012. that is not what the president would be hoping for. it is a lot better than most. the forecast for the u.k. has been cut 2.6%. even that is better than the euro zone. with much sharper downturn is for countries like spain and italy. european finance ministers disappointed the markets today by failing to reach a deal on greek debt. the imf says dad is laying on the recovery nearly everywhere -- gets its length on the recovery of nearly everywhere. >> decreasing debt is a marathon, not a sprint. going too fast will kill growth and derail the recovery. it is useful to remember that it took more than two decades to successfully decrease debt from its world war ii levels. >> does this mean the fund once the government to ease up? yes. the chancellor should consider its. you would not think so, looking at britain's mountain of ious. the government debt rose to over a trillion pounds. that is below the average for an economy of our size and less than expected. it is still 16,000 pounds for ev

. >> rose: we begin this evening with a wrap-up of the week in politics and the economy. la night the republican candidates faced off in the final debate before florida's primary next tuesday. mitt romney was on the offense any one of his best performances yet. >> i don't own stock in either fannie mae or freddie mac there are bonds that the investor has held through mutual funds. and mr. speaker, i know that sounds like an enormous revelation but have you checked your own investments? you also have investments from mutual funds that also invest in fannie mae and freddie mac. >> we should have had a whistle-blower and not a horn tooter. he should have stood up and said these things are a disaster, this is a crisis. he should have been anxiously teing the american people that these entities were causing a housing bubble that would cause a collapse. that we've seen here florida and around the country. >> i want to make sure i understand, is he still the most anti-immigrant candidate. >> i think of the four of us, yes. >> go ahead, governor. >> that is simply index causeable.

to have the economy go forward but in your view the central banks should still be there so then let's let's let's talk then about. i have a graphic that shows the central bank's balance sheet if we could bring that up. all right that is actually a chart i mean a graphic it's about a year old the federal reserve's balance sheet has actually. grown a little bit since then it's about two point nine billion now and that shows really what happened after the crisis it bought up a lot of securities and traditionally when the fed conducts monetary policy it buys and sells assets from its portfolio in order to manipulate the interest rate that spot so many assets now and one of the things we heard during this crisis was don't worry. when the time comes we'll be able to sell assets from our folio draw this liquidity is that really possible surely they'd be able to sell those assets without causing the pressure yes absolutely so the key thing is when the time comes what will the find when the time comes when the economy is growing nicely and or when inflation looks worrisome we're not close to e

he understands the economy. he understands how it works. which is one of the great problems of this administration. they may have theories, they don't understand how it works. >> is romney also -- >> and i was a supporter of obama. >> is romney a deal maker? >> he certainly is. >> an accomplished deal maker in. >> very accomplished! >> is had what the american people really want? >> party of it. he to make compromises with the democratic legislature in massachusetts to get things going. they know he can work. >> i don't like this romney commercial going on here. >> to my left, i'm -- i'm amazed. [everyone talking at once] that you've let him go on. >> i want to hear what mort has to stay. >> i read -- >> you said -- [everyone talking at once] excuse me! i read the survey that you just referred to, the ap survey, and the economists that responded said they were not familiar with romney's plans for the economy. they were basing it on the fact he was with capitol. the ability to shut down a lot of business and have a success here and there that

hey look, president obama has a plan to grow the economy. grow the economy top down from there. political artificial spending. republicans have to counter that. they've got to say, hey, look, we'll take money out of washington's pocket, cut taxes, spending there. grow this economy bottom up. organically, naturally. there's a new and better way than obama's old thinking. and so far, i'm not hearing that message from a lot of republicans. >> eric, these latest polls in south carolina, there's been a big question mark about romney, his ability to compete in the south. there was a sense he could be vulnerable, especially in south carolina. he's got nearly twice the support of his closest competitor, an 18-point lead. is it possible the conservative core of the republican party is warming to romney? >> i don't know that they're necessarily warming. i think they're getting post traumatic stress disorder from the last campaign season of the last year. they're ready for this to be over. they're seeing the way this is headed. mitt romney could well be the nominee coming out of new hampshi

will start with numbers from europe singing the economy there, unemployment is rising. there is no way the struggling economies of europe will be able to recover and deal with budget problems while their economies are falling apart. if they get budget problems and economic problems, that will spark the financial crisis and hit the u.s. just like it did in the prior two years. if anyone thinks this is the start of a new era for the u.s. economy has to stop and think a little bit more. >> just as i was starting to get optimistic. thank you very much indeed. >> thank you. >> you are watching bbc world news america. still to come -- one orchestra is still getting in tune, but to hear them, you have to go behind prison bars. hungary's center-right government is defending its constitution in the face of criticism it erodes democracy. there are signs that the government in budapest may be prepared to renegotiate some or all of the changes. here's our your co matthew price. -- here's our europe correspondenct, that the price. >> little cheer on the train across the danube. there