Both the White House and the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke this week repeated their official forecasts that the U.S. economy should be able to dodge a recession this year — if all goes well. But as Bernanke outlined in back-to-back appearances before House and Senate committees, the list of “ifs” is getting longer.Bush reminded reporters at a news conference Thursday that it will take time for the recently enacted $160 billion stimulus package to have the intended effect of boosting consumer spending. That spending accounts for roughly 70 cents of every dollar of gross domestic product, which slowed in the fourth quarter of last year to a growth rate of just 0.6 percent.
"I know there's a lot of, here in Washington people are trying to — stimulus package two — and all that stuff,” Bush told reporters. “Why don't we let stimulus package one, which seemed like a good idea at the time, have a chance to kick in?"
Tax rebate checks are expected to begin making their way to consumers’ pockets starting in May. But it’s not clear how many people will head straight to the mall to spend them.
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