\u201cMy best guess is that we\u2019ll have a continued recovery, but it won\u2019t feel terrific,\u201d\u009d Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed chairman, said at a dinner at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars on Monday night. \u201cAnd the reason it won\u2019t feel terrific is that it\u2019s not going to be fast enough to put back eight million people who lost their jobs within a few years.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
One could almost envision the winces in the White House as Mr. Bernanke observed that the unemployment rate \u201cwill stay high for some time.\u201d\u009d He went on to note that even if the economy grew at 3 percent, which would be considered a healthy pace, it would do little more than keep pace with the normal rate of growth of the work force.<\/p>\n
Virtually every day of late, White House officials have struggled to explain how their strategies to provide economic stimulus to bring down the unemployment rate square with Mr. Obama\u2019s oft-expressed commitment to tackle a record budget deficit. They talk about spending this year \u201d\u201d in modest amounts \u201d\u201d while waiting for the prescriptions of the president\u2019s commission on debt reduction, which reports, conveniently, a few weeks after the midterm elections.<\/p>\n