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Letters: The Fed and the ‘Outsourcerer’

Marketplace Staff Nov 12, 2010
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Letters: The Fed and the ‘Outsourcerer’

Marketplace Staff Nov 12, 2010
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TEXT OF STORY

Tess Vigeland: I knew when the dogs started barking that our mail lady was here with the latest correspondence from you. Our mail lady and senior producer Deb Clark is with us. Did everyone write to say how much they loved us this week?

Deborah Clark: Of course, no. But I do have one word for you this week, Tess.

Vigeland: Plastics?

Clark: Ha! No, QE2.

Vigeland: Oh right you wanted me to make more jokes about your queen?

Clark: Oh, of course. No we actually got a lot of reaction to our story about the second round of quantitative easing — QE2 — and the Fed’s plan to buy bonds, I know your favorite topic.

Vigeland: Yeah. Well, savers certainly are not the least bit happy about this.

Clark: Right. Here’s a pretty typical reaction from Mike Miller of Sylmar, Calif.

Mike Miller: Although I appreciate what Mr. Bernanke is trying desperately to do. Flooding the economy with $600 billion created out of thin air not only keeps interest rates absurdly low, but it also makes every dollar out there worth less. So now I’m earning pennies on a principal that’s worth less. Go, Ben, go!

Vigeland: Mr. Bernanke, of course, being Ben Bernnake, the chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Clark: Of course. And that listener, I think he’s being sarcastic.

Vigeland: I think you’re right. All right, what else?

Clark: Well last week we started our coverage of the Sandwich Generation with an interview with Ron Lieber from the New York Times.

Vigeland: Right. This generation has come up upon even more challenges because of the recession.

Clark: Yeah, that’s true. But Constance Gager wrote in from Montclair, N.J. She said there’s another change that’s making this a bigger deal these days that you guys didn’t talk about.

Constance Gager: The big difference now is the combination of two demographic changes. One, women postponing childbearing and two, increasing longevity that has led to the perfect storm know as the Sandwich Generation. So most people didn’t face the Sandwich situation until the 1980s/1990s. Your guest addressed the living longer factor, but did not address the postponing childbearing part of the Sandwich equation.

Vigeland: I guess we have to do longer interviews.

Clark: I don’t know if that’s the solution. All right, well let’s end on a musical note. A couple of weeks ago, reporter Jeff Tyler did a piece on the fact that it’s a lot harder to make it as a musician than one would think and sometimes they have to have day jobs.

Vigeland: Yes.

Clark: So a couple of parents and grandparents were grateful for the story, like Peter Fallon from Hatfield, Penn. He wrote in, said he went on our website, forwarded the story to his grandson who, “Has a guitar growing out of his stomach and clouding his amazing mind. Hopefully this will bring some balance to his future.”

Vigeland: Yeah. That’s what we’re here for, crushing your dreams.

Clark: Yeah, OK. Now one oops on this story though.

Vigeland: Uh oh.

Clark: Yeah. So more than one listener wrote in to tell us that when Jeff was talking about the Iron Maiden singer who had a second career as an airline pilot, we mistakenly played some Iron Maiden music from the wrong era of the band.

Vigeland: Oh geeze.

Clark: Yeah. They had a different lead singer then.

Vigeland: All right, who’s getting fired for that offense?

Clark: Well, all I’ll say on that is that the music choice was not the reporter’s fault. Anyway, moving on, the lead singer who is an airline pilot is Bruce Dickinson.

Vigeland: All right. Well one more from me. You know last week we mentioned the new superhero comic book “Unemployment Man?” Well we asked for some listener suggestions for other characters and got exactly one, I like it. From Jo Muskiewicz in Dexter, Mich.: Every hero needs a nemesis, so how about “Outsourcerer?” And Michigan knows from outsourcing. Thanks Deb.

Clark: Thanks Tess.

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