USA Today (04/26/12) Tim Mullaney
The U.S. Federal Reserve has issued a positive economic forecast for this year, but fed chairman Ben Bernanke cautions that there may be an economic downturn in 2013 if Congress fails to take action on expiring tax cuts and planned spending cuts by the end of 2012. The central bank says the economy may grow as fast as 2.9% this year. Unemployment is declining more quickly than the central bank had expected, Bernanke says, and could fall to as low as 7.8%—from 8.2% currently—by the end of the year.