2 posts and columns on Federal Reserve

Voices

Fed Unveils Swipe-Fee Plan

in News on June 29, 2011 at 1:17 pm PT

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday unveiled a more moderate plan to curb the debit-card “interchange” fees banks charge retailers, proposing a base fee of 21 cents that’s far less restrictive than a draft proposal that outraged the banking industry.

April’s Job Loss Report Less of a Train Wreck Than March’s

in News on May 6, 2009 at 7:11 am PT

The number of job cuts made during April was the lowest since October. That’s the latest from outplacement services provider Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which said today that “planned workforce reductions” in April were 132,590–12 percent fewer than the more than 150,000 recorded in March. Great news, right? Until you realize that the “planned reductions” to which the company refers were up 47 percent from a year earlier and are still at recession levels.
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