At the Federal Reserve meetings in Jackson Hole, CRFB President Maya MacGuineas, commented on fiscal policy and the need for a credible debt reduction plan.

Watch a video of the interview below, or click here to go to CNBC.

With heated public debate and growing uncertainty about the momentum of the economic recovery, all eyes turned to the scheduled meeting of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy body (the FOMC) this week. Press reports that the Fed was reconsidering its exit strategy of unwinding its balance sheet had already come out on the heels of recent disappointing government reports (a disappointing slowdown in GDP growth from 3.7% the first quarter to 2.4% in the second quarter; weak labor market numbers in June and July; continuing signs of trouble in housing; plus persistent tight credit).

Ben Bernanke, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, will present his twice-yearly testimony to Congress tomorrow (the Senate) and then again on Thursday (the House), accompanied by the always must-read semi-annul monetary policy report by the Fed Board. The big questions this time (and somehow there are always big questions when the Chairman speaks to Congress) are:

In testimony before the House Budget Committee this week, Ben Bernanke called for a plan to be put in place now to reduce deficits once the economy recovers. Already being a (frequently re-affirmed) member of the Announcement Effect Club, Bernanke's testimony was no surprise to readers of our blog or anyone who is familiar with Bernanke's public statements.

Yesterday, Donald Marron asked the question: "How Blurry is the Line between Monetary and Fiscal Policy?" As our readers know, we have been tracking the actions of the Federal Reserve, as well as those from the rest of the government, at Stimulus.org.

Yesterday CBO issued a very interesting report on the budgetary impact of the Federal Reserve's actions to address the economic and financial crisis.

In a release late Sunday night, the Fed announced that it has agreed with other major central banks to reopen foreign currency swap lines in order to provide them with dollar liquidity through January 2011.

Speaking in Dallas yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated the choices we will have to face to regain fiscal sustainability. He lays out options our plainly and clearly:

CRFB would like to introduce our "Featured Charts" page where we will highlight important fiscal, economic, health care, and entitlement projection data in clear, interactive, and sharable graphs. CRFB will update these charts continuously as new data becomes available.

Yesterday, the Federal Reserve ended its purchases of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) from the government-sponsored enterprises (GSE), including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae. The Fed announced the creation of the purchasing program on November 25, 2008, and has since purchased $1.1 trillion worth of GSE securities. Many analysts credit the program with holding mortgage interest rates at near-record lows while also mitigating the national decline in home prices.