Despite disappointing news about jobs, the president and the Fed chairman have signaled they won't launch any new efforts to try to speed up a slow recovery
A sag in growth and a slowdown in job creation apparently haven't shaken President Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's faith that the economy doesn't need any more help, above and beyond what they've already offered.
That was clear from comments the two most powerful men in the economic world offered separately on Tuesday, the first for each man since Friday's disappointing report that the economy added just 54,000 net jobs in May. The practical and unsurprising result is that the nearly 14 million Americans looking for work can expect the summer to pass without so much as an attempt from Washington to inject a fiscal or monetary stimulant into the job market.
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In case you're scoring at home, nearly six months have passed since either the president or the Fed chair has tried to accelerate efforts to boost the recovery. Obama has been content to sing the stimulative praises of the tax deal he reached with Republicans in December, which included a temporary reduction in payroll taxes, while Bernanke has stayed the course on a $600 billion asset-buying plan of quantitative easing, known as QE2.