mark w olson : update on the u. s. economy and fiscal outlook remarks by mark w olson, member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, at the albers school of business and economics, executive speakers series, seattle university, seattle, 13 october 2005. governor presented identical remarks at the fraser institute roundtable luncheon, vancouver, canada, on 12 october 2005. * * * thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. my remarks will focus on the near - term economic outlook of the united states in the immediate post - hurricane aftermath. then i will address the fiscal challenges that the country confronts. as always, and perhaps even more so this time, i will be speaking for myself and not necessarily for my colleagues at the federal reserve. in july, when i accepted your invitation to speak, i chose as my title " update on the u. s. economy. " on the basis of how the u. s. economy was performing around midsummer, i anticipated that an october presentation on the economy would be quite positive. at that time, the first - quarter increase in real gdp had been revised up to almost 4 percent, and after a slightly softer second quarter, most estimates pointed to another increase in the 4 percent range or higher for the third quarter. the economy was generating, on average, 175, 000 private nonfarm jobs per month, and the unemployment rate was down to 5 percent. core consumer price inflation was running at about 2 percent. in short, at midyear, the u. s. economy appeared to be on firm footing, and inflation appeared to be well contained. canada's economy appeared to be in a roughly similar position, as inflation was running at about 2 percent - - approximately the midpoint of the bank of canada's inflationtarget band - - and the unemployment rate at about 6 - 3 / 4 percent. as always, the positive picture in the united states was not without potential risks, and the chairman noted them in his midyear report to the congress : rising prices of energy and other commodities had put upward pressure on costs. labor costs had also picked up. already lofty housing prices that allowed homeowners to convert equity appreciation into consumption continued to rise and in some markets had reached levels that our chairman had described as " frothy. " on balance, the fomc continued to believe that policy accommodation could be removed at a measured pace. however, the committee noted that it would need

elizabeth a duke : enforcement of financial consumer protection laws testimony of ms elizabeth a duke, member of the board of governors of the us federal reserve system, before the committee on financial services, us house of representatives, washington dc, 20 march 2009. * * * chairman frank, ranking member bachus, and members of the committee, i want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss the federal reserve board's ongoing efforts to address and prevent mortgage - related fraud and abusive lending practices in the institutions we supervise. while the expansion of the subprime mortgage market over the past decade increased consumers'access to credit, too many homeowners and communities are suffering today because of lax underwriting standards and other unfair or deceptive practices that resulted in unsustainable loans. the federal reserve is committed to improving consumer protections and promoting responsible lending practices through each of the roles we play as supervisor for safety and soundness and consumer compliance, and as rulewriter. i will discuss the federal reserve's ongoing efforts as a banking supervisor to ensure that the institutions we supervise are managing their mortgage lending activities in a safe and sound manner and in compliance with laws and regulations. i will also discuss the rules and guidance that have been issued over the past several years that address many of these issues. in addition to our own examination and enforcement activities, i will talk about our ongoing efforts to coordinate with other law enforcement agencies to hold those who are involved in criminal activities in our supervised institutions accountable. the federal reserve's enforcement efforts begin with the examination of its supervised institutions. the federal reserve conducts regular examinations of state member banks for both safety and soundness and compliance with consumer protection laws. we also conduct regular inspections of bank holding companies. we examine the mortgage businesses of these institutions, including subprime residential portfolios, as applicable. institutions with weaknesses are expected to take corrective actions that include improving their risk management and underwriting practices in the future. in those rare instances where the bank is not willing to address the problem, we have and use a full range of powerful enforcement tools to compel corrective action. to ensure that banks with performance deficiencies give appropriate attention to supervisory concerns, we may require them to enter into nonpublic enforcement actions, such as memoranda of understanding. when necessary, we use formal, public enforcement actions, such as written agreements, cease and desist orders, or civil money penalties. mortgage fraud and investigations in recent years, there has been a significant increase