richard w fisher : policies needed to restore american prosperity concluding remarks by mr richard w fisher, president and chief executive officer of the federal reserve bank of dallas, before the dallas and fort worth chapters of financial executives international, dallas, texas, 11 february 2014. * * * the views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect official positions of the federal reserve system. related slides can be found on the federal reserve bank of dallas ’ website : slides ( pdf ). for far too long, the greatest obstacle to the nation ’ s economic prosperity has resided here : an editorial in today ’ s financial times encapsulated in 11 words an argument i have been making repeatedly : “ fiscal policy is still not an ally of u. s. growth. ” 1 i ’ ll conclude by making the argument once more. earlier i showed you the gaping hole in the heart of our prosperity : if you remove the jobcreating machine of texas from the u. s. economy, the nation has experienced job destruction that has occurred over the past 12 years in the middle - income quartiles. let me show you that chart again : see “ yellen must not be bullied by congress, ” financial times, p. 8, feb. 11, 2014. bis central bankers ’ speeches i never refer to “ classes ” ; i do not believe status in a democracy should be defined by the hidebound concept of “ classes. ” but no matter : the most vital organ of our nation ’ s economy – the middle - income worker – is being eviscerated. this is the pathology i worry most about. so i ask : can my colleagues and i at the fed cure this with monetary policy? obviously, businesses cannot create jobs without the means for investing in job - creating expansion, so, yes, monetary policy is necessary to propel job creation. but as i have shown you tonight, the store of bank reserves awaiting discharge into the economy through our banking system is vast, yet it lies fallow. take a look at this chart of total reserves of depository institutions : they have ballooned from a precrisis level of $ 43 billion to $ 2. 5 trillion. bis central bankers ’ speeches there is plenty of money available for businesses to work with. consider this : in fourth quarter 2007 the nation ’ s gross domestic product ( gdp ) was $ 14. 7 trillion ; at year - end 2013 it was estimated to be $ 17. 1 trillion. had we continued on

native - born hispanics in texas age 25 to 64 are high school dropouts. no matter how you slice it or dice it, it is glaringly clear that hispanics in texas are failing at school. this must be corrected. if not, they will continue to trail in economic achievement. and all of us – white, black, asian - american, hispanic or non - hispanic – will suffer the consequences of economic underperformance. texas is a remarkable place. we embody the “ can do ” spirit. my favorite texas historian is t. r. fehrenbach. i recommend his book, lone star : a history of texas and the texans, to anybody who wishes to understand what makes this place unique. as fehrenbach puts it, the key to overcoming the odds in the lone star state has been that “ the texas ethic and texas society rewarded enterprise, ”... “ work was the real virtue. ” … “ we chose this land ; we took it ; we made it bear fruit. ” we are a people, in fehrenbach ’ s words, for whom “ the cult of courage was obvious. ” 1 and he distills the texas spirit that prevails to this day in one sentence : here, “ men who exist get overrun by men who act. ” 2 it is time for our great latino population to have the courage to face the facts : they must do a better job as families and within their communities to dedicate themselves to educational achievement. and it is time for all texans, hispanics and non - hispanics, to act to create the conditions that will safeguard and nourish the prosperity of all our children and that of our children ’ s children. ¡ andale pues! delve into the hispanic experience. help us understand through this conference and your various studies how to advance hispanic prosperity. for in doing so, you are helping us advance texas and the nation. thank you. lone star : a history of texas and the texans, by t. r. fehrenbach, new york : macmillan publishing co., 1985, pp. 708 – 12. see note 1, p. 717. bis central bankers ’ speeches