FISCAL CLIFF (Bernanke presses lawmakers to resolve fiscal cliff)

WASHINGTON (Market Watch) — Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke went to New York City Tuesday to deliver a message to Washington: cut a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff and don’t play politics with the federal debt limit again. 

Uncertainty over U.S. tax and spending policy is weighing on spending decisions of households and businesses as well as on financial markets, Bernanke said in remarks to the New York Economic Club.

 “Uncertainty about how the fiscal cliff, the raising of the debt limit, and the longer-term budget situation will be addressed appears already to be affecting private spending and investment decisions and may be contributing to an increased sense of caution in financial markets,” he said. 

“Such uncertainties will only be increased by discord and delay,” Bernanke said.

He urged the members of Congress not to kick the can down the road.

Putting off policy choices would only “prolong and intensify these uncertainties,” he said. 

“In contrast, cooperation and creativity to deliver fiscal clarity — in particular a plan for resolving the nation’s longer-term budgetary issues without harming the recovery — could make the new year a very good one for the American economy,” Bernanke said.

Without action by the White House and Congress on the fiscal cliff, about $500 billion in spending cuts and tax increases are set to begin in 2013. 

Economists warn the U.S. could slip back into recession if the so-called fiscal cliff is not addressed before the end of the year.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders met last week to reopen budget talks and pledged to work together to reach a deal. 

There has been staff work underway this week while Obama took a quick four-day trip to Southeast Asia.

Looming in the background is the need for Congress to pass another increase in the federal debt ceiling, now set at $16.4 trillion. 

Fractious talks between the two sides in the summer of 2011 over an increase in the debt limit disrupted financial markets and the economy, Bernanke said.

“A failure to reach a timely agreement this time around could impose even heavier economic and financial costs,” Bernanke said. 

The Treasury Department said that the government will come close to the ceiling by the end of the year. Special accounting techniques can then delay hitting the ceiling for a few more months.

“Coming together to find fiscal solutions will not be easy, but the stakes are high,” Bernanke said.

In his remarks, Bernanke said Fed monetary policy has helped diminish headwinds holding back the recovery. 

He said it is too early to assess the full effects of the Fed’s third round of bond buying, known as QE3,

Under this plan, the Fed is buying $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities per month with no end-date, saying only that the purchases would continue until there was substantial improvement in the labor market.

Bernanke noted that yields on corporate bonds and agency mortgage-backed securities have fallen significantly, on balance, since the Fed announced QE3 in September. 

The Fed has also said it expects to hold rates near zero until mid-2015, even if the recovery strengthens.

“We hope that such assurances will reduce uncertainly and increase confidence among households and businesses, thereby providing additional support for economic growth and job creation,” he said.