"We've had a recovery that is quite disappointing," Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher said at the University of Texas, adding: "We're cruising along right at stall speed."
But without more certainty on tax policy and regulation, he said, "all the monetary accommodation in the world" will not get businesses hiring again.
In particular, businesses are unable to plan for the future as long as a raft of spending cuts and tax increases dubbed the 'fiscal cliff' looms at the end of this year, he said.
"A short-term fix to the fiscal cliff will do nothing but push out the envelope of indecision and we will continue to be plagued by high unemployment," he said. Economic Times
FACTS & FIGURES
The economy lost 8.7 million jobs in the 2007-09 recession and has so far recouped a little more than half of them.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.1% last month from 8.3% in July. But that was only because many people gave up looking for work. The government only counts people as unemployed if they are actively searching for jobs. Detroit Free Press
A slack job market and rising food and gasoline prices are squeezing households just as concern mounts that lawmakers might not be able to avoid the fiscal cliff of tax increases and government spending cuts slated to take effect next year. Bloomberg
U.S. economic growth was much weaker than previously estimated in the second quarter as a drought cut into inventories, setting the platform for an even more sluggish performance in the current quarter against the backdrop of slowing factory activity. Fox Business
The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net. AP
As the economic crisis deepens, more jobs are vaporized, millions lose their unemployment benefits, and prices for essentials goods continue to rise, many Americans are left with no choice but to move back in with mom and dad. Prison Planet
Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs - waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example - and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans. AP
