Prior discussion:
speaker: MR. FERGUSON.
text: I think the external situation is not going to improve anytime soon. Therefore, I believe the wiser course for us at this stage is to sit tight. I guess ultimately this is the least unacceptable choice, but I think it is also the most responsible one. Therefore, I would make no change in either the funds rate or the asymmetry. 
speaker: CHAIRMAN GREENSPAN.
text: President Jordan. 

MR. JORDAN. "That would be absolutely delightful."

Full utterance: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Obviously, I am delighted with the staffs upward revisions in its estimates of productivity growth and potential output growth, and I will be even more pleased if future revisions are also upward to 3, 3-1/4, or even 3-1/2 percent, which I guess was the highest in history. That would be absolutely delightful. I doubt that we will see it go above that and set a new record, but if that happens, that would be great! Nevertheless, such productivity growth is still not as rapid as the growth of demand, and that creates the problem that we have. I also am delighted with the unemployment rate being at 4.3 percent, and I hope it continues to go down. I would like to see it go to 4 percent or even below 4 percent. Low unemployment helps us to do wonderful things by providing opportunities for people. But it also sets a model for the rest of the world about what works. The longer we can sustain it, the more imitators around the world we are going to have. So, I hope we will not get ourselves into a situation where we have to take action. An unavoidable byproduct would be a higher unemployment rate. It would be not only bad for us, but also bad as a model for the rest of the world if we found ourselves faced with having to take such an action. When I look at the Asian situation, perhaps Latin America, and certainly Russia, I think we should ease policy. Unfortunately, we do not have the luxury of even considering that option at this time, and that is too bad. Maybe if nominal spending growth, money growth, and other things over the last year had been as forecast by the staff instead of coming in stronger, the economy might be more balanced right now and we might be able to entertain that possibility. Or maybe if we had responded earlier to indications that spending growth, domestic demand, and money and credit growth were coming in a lot stronger and the current account deficit was widening, we might have had the option of considering an easing sooner. I think we are going to need to ease for the sake of the rest of the world. The sooner we create the conditions within the domestic economy that will permit us to contemplate an easing of policy, the better off we are going to be and the better off the world is going to be. Unfortunately, we sometimes have to tack; we sometimes have to go in an opposite direction from where we really want to go to get there. I want to be in a world where we not only have lower inflation, but where we have lower interest rates, rapid economic growth, and sustained low unemployment. But I think we are approaching a point where we may have to go in a direction different from where we all want to come out.

Opinion: yes
About monetary policy: yes