U.S. Budget and Economy

On December 17th, the Washington Business Journal posted an article titled "D.C. far outpaces nation in personal earnings" . It began: D.C. residents are enjoying a personal income boom. The District’s total personal income in 2012 was $47.28 billion, or $74,733 for each of its 632,323 residents, according to the Office of the Chief Financial Officer’s Economic and Revenue Trends report for November. The U.S. average per capita personal income was $43,725. The highest of the 50 states, Connecticut, fell 25 percent short of D.C. The article concludes: The numbers suggest D.C. residents are living the high life. Some are, but, of course, it’s not that simple. Poverty is entrenched in many D.C. neighborhoods, especially east of the Anacostia River, where earnings are virtually nonexistent and the need for social services is dire. But as long as the District is booming on a per capita basis, the money should be available to help. As it turns out, the $74,733 and $43,725 fi...

January 31st marked the end of Ben Bernanke's 8-year tenure as Federal Reserve Chairman. An article titled "Bernanke Leaves Fed with Record Balance Sheet of $4,102,138,000,000" gives a short history of the actions of the Fed and growth in the Fed Balance Sheet during that time. Following is a short summary of the actions taken from there and Wikipedia : DATES AND DESCRIPTIONS OF FEDERAL RESERVE ACTIONS Program Start End Securities purchased ------- -------- -------- -------------------- QE1 Dec 2008 Mar 2010 agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and agency debt, up to $600 billion total Mar 2009 Mar 2010 expanded to $1.25 trillion in MBS, $175 billion in agency debt, and $300 billion in treasuries QE2 Nov 2010 Jun 2011 longer dated treasuries, at a rate of $75 billion per month for a total of $600 billion Twixt Sep 2011 Dec 2012 longer dated treasuries with funds from selling shorter dated treasuries, total of $400 billio...