The Federal Reserve’s risky effort to reduce interest rates is
hitting swing-voting retirees in the wallet — and Fed Chairman Ben
Bernanke is blaming the financial
crisis.
“I know that people who rely on investments
that pay a fixed interest rate … are receiving very low returns, [which
is] a situation that has involved significant hardship for some,” he
said in an Oct. 1 speech in Indianapolis.
However, he added, “I would encourage you to remember that the current low levels of interest rates … are in a larger sense the result of the recent financial crisis — the worst shock to this nation’s financial system since the 1930s.”
The Fed’s decision to lower interest rates cuts the income on interest earned by retirees who depend on savings.
These retirees are important during elections because they’re swing voters. For example, retirees can sway the presidential vote in Florida — a must-win state for the Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Romney and President Barack Obama are neck-and-neck in the state, while both sides spend heavily to tout their support for Medicare and Social Security, and slam their opponent’s proposed policies.
That Medicare-focused debate may be expanded by Bernanke’s admission that the government’s low-interest policy hits retirees.
crisis.“I know that people who rely on investments
that pay a fixed interest rate … are receiving very low returns, [which
is] a situation that has involved significant hardship for some,” he
said in an Oct. 1 speech in Indianapolis.However, he added, “I would encourage you to remember that the current low levels of interest rates … are in a larger sense the result of the recent financial crisis — the worst shock to this nation’s financial system since the 1930s.”
The Fed’s decision to lower interest rates cuts the income on interest earned by retirees who depend on savings.
These retirees are important during elections because they’re swing voters. For example, retirees can sway the presidential vote in Florida — a must-win state for the Republican nominee Mitt Romney.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Romney and President Barack Obama are neck-and-neck in the state, while both sides spend heavily to tout their support for Medicare and Social Security, and slam their opponent’s proposed policies.
That Medicare-focused debate may be expanded by Bernanke’s admission that the government’s low-interest policy hits retirees.
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