Witnesses Announced For Subcommittee Chairman Ron Paul’s Hearing On The Federal Reserve’s Impact on Unemployment

WASHINGTON - February 7, 2011, Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Ron Paul announced the witnesses for the Subcommittee’s hearing to examine the impact of Federal Reserve policies on job creation and the unemployment rate. The hearing will be held on Wednesday, February 9th at 10 am in room 2128 Rayburn. Subcommittee Chairman Paul said, “I’m very pleased to hold our first subcommittee hearing in the new Congress on a topic that could not be more critical, namely unemployment. Despite enormous amounts of monetary and credit expansion by the Federal Reserve in recent years, the nation’s unemployment picture remains bleak. While many focus on the impact of fiscal policies on employment, the effect of monetary policy often goes unexamined.

In my view we are now experiencing the bust that inevitably results from the misallocation of capital and human resources in a period of artificially cheap credit. It is important to understand the Federal Reserve’s role in creating today’s unemployment crisis, while also highlighting that high unemployment and low economic growth can persist even in the face of tremendous monetary inflation.”

The Federal Reserve has taken unprecedented action to provide liquidity to financial markets and some U.S. corporations; however, unemployment remains at 9 percent. The hearing, entitled Can Monetary Policy Really Create Jobs?, will focus on the Fed’s recent actions, the likelihood those actions will reduce unemployment, and the critical role of the private sector in job creation.

While the Obama administration and Democrats in Congress believe increased government spending will improve the nation’s economy, Republicans on the Financial Services Committee know economic growth depends on providing the private sector, especially small businesses, with the certainty they need to create jobs. The Fed’s policies, as well as the Obama administration’s unsustainable debt and spending, continue to prevent small business owners from growing and hiring because of continued uncertainty over new taxes, higher interest rates, and the expanding role of government in the economy.

On November 3, 2010, the Federal Reserve announced that it planned to purchase $600 billion in long-term Treasuries (dubbed “QE2”). This is the second time since the 2008 financial crisis that the Federal Reserve has engaged in quantitative easing. The latest round of quantitative easing, along with the Fed’s action to bailout financial companies, has added trillions of dollars to the government balance sheet.
Scheduled to testify at the hearing:

· Thomas J. DiLorenzo, professor of economics, Sellinger School of Business, Loyola University, Baltimore, Maryland

· Dr. Richard Vedder, professor of economics, Ohio University

· Dr. Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute, Washington, D.C. ###

TEXT CREDIT: Committee on Financial Services • 2129 Rayburn House Office Building • Washington, DC 20515 • (202) 225-7502 For Press Inquiries: (202) 226-0471

IMAGE CREDIT: Ron Paul

***MEDIA ADVISORY*** Committee on Education and the Workforce to Hold Hearing on ObamaCare and Its Impact on Employers and the Workforce

WASHINGTON, D.C. | February 7, 2011 - On Wednesday, February 9 at 10:00 a.m., the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, chaired by Rep. John Kline (R-MN), will hold a hearing on “The Impact of the Health Care Law on the Economy, Employers, and the Workforce” in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Employer-provided health insurance is a critical element of the American health care system. An estimated 170 million individuals receive health care coverage through an employer-sponsored health care plan.

Health care reform signed into law in 2010 imposes significant changes on America’s health care system, including requiring all businesses with more than 50 employees to provide government-approved health insurance or pay a fine. According to the chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the 2010 law increases national health care costs by $311 billion over 10 years. As a result, businesses must decide whether to provide government-approved health care at a higher cost or pay a government penalty. The Congressional Budget Office commented in October of 2010 that the health care law would reduce “the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent…” If true, that would result in fewer hours worked or the loss of 700,000 jobs. At a time when 13.9 million Americans are unemployed, Congress needs to fully understand the impact the 2010 health care law will have on the nation’s workforce.

Members of the committee will examine broadly the consequences of the Democrats’ health care law for employers and the workforce and hear directly from job creators how the 2010 law affects their ability to grow and hire new workers.

# # #

WITNESS LIST

Paul Howard, Ph.D.
Senior Fellow
Manhattan Institute
New York, NY

Gail Johnson
President and CEO
Rainbow Station, Inc.
Richmond, VA

Neil Trautwein
Vice President and Employee Benefits Policy Counsel
National Retail Federation
Washington, D.C.

Paul N. Van de Water
Senior Fellow
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Washington, D.C.

TEXT CREDIT: Education & the Workforce Committee U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce 2181 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, D.C. 20515 Tel: 202-225-4527 Fax: 202-225-9571

IMAGE CREDIT: This United States Congress image is in the public domain. This may be because it is an official Congressional portrait, because it was taken by an official employee of the Congress, or because it has been released into the public domain and posted on the official websites of a member of Congress. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.