Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in an interview aired Sunday that the U.S. economy is at a “turning point,” with a forecast for growth and job creation. very strong occupation.
Note: In his interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley, Powell said it’s “highly unlikely” that the Fed will raise interest rates this year.
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Leading the news: “What we’re seeing now is really an economy that seems to be at a turning point, and that’s due to widespread vaccination and strong fiscal support, strong monetary policy support,” Powell said in the interview. .
- “We feel we are in a place where the economy is about to start growing much faster and job creation will come much faster.”
Yes, but: Powell’s prediction is based on the fact that there is no other wave of COVID-19.
- “I would like to identify the main risk to our economy right now that the disease will spread again more quickly,” Powell said.
- “We see cases. They have a much lower level. But we see them going up now. And that’s worrisome. It will be smart if people can continue to get away socially and wear masks.”
Threat level: Powell told Pelley that the risk the Fed was monitoring to the fullest now was the threat of a cyber violation. Officials were preparing a series of scenarios: from the breakdowns of public payment services related to individuals and large financial institutions to the financial system came to a halt.
- “There are now cyber attacks every day on all major institutions,” Powell noted.
- “And the government is working hard on that. So are all private sector companies. There is a great effort to address these threats. This is a big part of the threat landscape in today’s world.”
For the record: President Biden took office a month after it was revealed that the alleged Russian hackers launched a massive cyberattack on various US government agencies and companies.
- The Biden administration is working on an executive order to strengthen federal cybersecurity following the piracy of SolarWinds and Microsoft Exchange Server, which was targeted by a Chinese government-backed cyber espionage unit, which emerged in early this month.
- National Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas outlined a plan earlier this month to combat online attacks and said the Biden administration is committed to re-creating the Senate-confirmed role of national cyber director for the Senate. to success, but the site has not yet been covered.