This week we continue our conversation with the Hon. David M. Walker, Senior Strategic Advisor, PwC, Founder, Comeback America Initiative, and former Comptroller General of the United States. Dave Walker is the author of Comeback America: Turning the Country Around and Restoring Fiscal Responsibility (2010), and will be a keynote speaker at  the 22nd annual Atlantic Conferences Symposium on Mezzanine & Middle Market Finance, May 5 -6, NYC: The Summit for Middle Market Debt Finance™.

Second of two parts – View part one

The Lead Left: Back to interest rates for a moment, do you see any increase this year?

David Walker: Until there’s a real threat of inflationary pressures, the Fed probably won’t raise rates. And as I’ve said, there’s a bigger underemployment problem than many realize. I think we should eliminate the Fed’s dual mandate [of inflation and unemployment], but we can’t do that until the President and Congress make some real progress on economic growth and our structural deficit challenges. People forget that because of the failure of the President and the Congress acting, the Fed has been the only game in town.