The Federal Reserve beige book of regional economic conditions came out this last week, and the conclusion was ‘moderate growth,’ although labor has fallen off a bit.  Almost all of the Fed’s regions (Philadelphia was the exception) were generally showing decent growth.  Echoing these same sentiments, Chairman Bernanke’s remarks to the Joint Economic Committee weren’t earth-shattering in terms of surprises.  He classified current economic growth again as ‘moderate,’ although ‘significant downside risks to the outlook’ remain.  Also, he commented on labor market slowing, which he and other economists believe may be partially due to weather issues earlier on in the year and/or choppiness due to a recovery process as the result of excessive layoffs during the Great Recession.  Read more