user: Why Bernanke can’t win
FORTUNE — When Federal Reserve officials meet today and tomorrow, Wall Street may not get the clarity it has been looking for.

Up until a few weeks ago, it was pretty clear what the central bank was up to, at least for the near future: To help the job market improve, the Fed would buy $85 billion a month in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities until the economy improves substantially.

Last month, however, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank may slow down its bond buying program within just “a few meetings,” even though unemployment still stands at 7.6%. This has confused investors; since May, yields on 10-year Treasuries jumped by about half a percentage point. More than that, any pullback would signal that the economy may be doing better than most of us think.

MORE: Ben Bernanke threatens private equity

That may or may not be true, but some are now calling out the Fed for giving the economy a far too rosy outlook. And President Obama hinted on Monday that he may not reappoint Bernanke for a third term.

In every year of the economic recovery, the Fed has overestimated how fast the economy would grow, as The Wall Street Journal noted Monday. Its monthly survey of private-sector economists shows that forecasters on average expect the economy to grow 2.3% this year and 2.8% next year — lower than the Fed’s latest growth projections, made in March, which average growth closer to 2.6% for 2013 and 3.2% for 2014.

Officials might be too bullish again, but the Fed hasn’t always been more optimistic. It depends who you ask and whether they’re worried more about unemployment or inflation.

Recall last year when a spate of better-than-expected economic data failed to convince the Fed from turning off the money spigot. In February 2012, after the unemployment rate fell to a three-year low of 8.3%, Bernanke defended the central bank’s decision to hold interest rates at record-low levels for the next three years.

MORE: The real reason interest rates are rising

True, he acknowledged the economy was doing better, but he also said it was “sluggish”at best as he worried about the implications of debt problems in the U.S. and Europe. Bernanke defended the Fed’s prescription against Republicans who are worried its purchases could encourage prices to rise rapidly in the years ahead.

It may be too early to say who is right, but so far inflation doesn’t appear to be a problem.

At its meeting this week, Fed policymakers probably won’t slow their monthly asset purchases until at least December, according to two-thirds of 39 economists and investment strategists surveyed by CNNMoney. Some noted that the so-called “tapering” may not begin until 2014.

That may or may not keep interest rates from rising further, but it may at least say a lot more about the health of the economy.
Please write a summary below.
Economists are complaining that the Fed is too optimistic about the economy. It was just over a year ago that its outlook was too pessimistic.


Q: Popcast: Is Katy Perry for Real?

On this week’s Popcast, The Times’s music podcast, Melena Ryzik discusses Ms. Perry’s persona as a playfully hypersexual pop star who has never fully discarded what she calls the “pick-and-choose” Christian beliefs she grew up with.

“It’s hard to say how calculating she is,” Ms. Ryzik says in the conversation. “She is definitely campy and she knows how to work her image. But there’s something genuine in her delivery. She genuinely wants to be super-famous, and whether she is employing the sexuality archly or whether that is something that just comes naturally to her, I think it might be the latter.”

Melena Ryzik’s cover story on Ms. Perry and her new album “Teenage Dream” is in Sunday’s Arts & Leisure section.

A discussion of “the Savory Collection” and Melena Ryzik on the pop heart and soul of Katy Perry. (

Also in Popcast this week, Larry Rohter and Loren Schoenberg, the executive director of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem, talk about “the Savory Collection,” one man’s private trove of 1930s jazz recordings, which has finally come to light. Ben Sisario is the host.
What are the most important parts of this text?

A: A discussion of "the Savory Collection" and Melena Ryzik on the pop heart and soul of Katy Perry. Ben Sisario is the host.


James Van Der Beek Pokes Fun at Indiana's Religious Freedom Law in Funny or Die Skit

04/03/2015 AT 04:40 PM EDT

is having some fun at the expense of Indiana's

, Van Der Beek and

star Anna Camp play a pair of Home Shopping Network-style hosts that quickly become uncomfortable and defensive when they receive calls from gay people inquiring about certain items.

This comes after Indiana Gov. Mike Pence

that many fear will lead to discrimination against gay people.

After a man calls in questioning about an item for his boyfriend, Van Der Beek says, "We have a religious freedom law, which means we don't have to serve anyone that threatens our religion."

Shortly after, a woman calls in asking about the plates she would like to purchase for her husband, "Lisa â¦ I mean Liso." Camp seems flustered and says, "All these liberals! Are we in Utah, or something?"

Van Der Beek has also

"is not about discrimination, and if I thought it legalized discrimination I would have vetoed it."

"If you say you love this country for its freedoms, but want to deny gays the same freedoms you enjoy, you sound like a hypocrite..."

And - just to clarify - "freedom" is the right to live how you choose. It's not the right to choose how everyone else lives."

The actor even posted a throwback photo he took in support of the

, which is a charitable organization whose mission is to promote marriage, gender and human equality through education, advocacy, social media, and visual protest.

Given what happened in Indiana, it's time for this #ThrowbackThursday, along with what I tweeted about 4 years ago... pic.twitter.com/BI8CB60bVn

Summary: The Varsity Blues alum stars in a video with True Blood's, Anna Camp, making light of Indiana's new Religious Freedom Bill.


Book review: ‘The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns’ by Sasha Issenberg

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Summary:

assistant: Sasha Issenberg’s ‘The Victory Lab’ dissects how modern campaigns target voters.