Tom Harkin: “I thought one of the things it might take is for the Senate of the United States to clearly express itself to the…”

“I thought one of the things it might take is for the Senate of the United States to clearly express itself to the members of the Federal Open Market Committee to lower interest rates now. There are increasing signs of a possible recession. Thirty-year Treasury bond rates have sunk to record lows and are now below the short-term Federal funds rate. This is a drastic warning signal. Again, I would point to the chart here '30-year Bonds' now lower than the Federal funds rate. That should scare us all. That should point to what we have to do in terms of lowering our short-term interest rates. Wholesale prices slid a steep 0.4 percent in August. In fact, for the first 8 months of this year producer prices have fallen at a 1.4-percent annual rate, compared with a 1.2-percent rise in 1997.”