Mark W Olson: Update on the US economy and fiscal outlook Speech by Mr Mark W Olson, Member of the Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System, at the Fraser Institute Roundtable Luncheon, Vancouver, 12 October 2005. *  *  *  Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.
My remarks will focus on the near-term economic outlook of the United States in the immediate post-hurricane aftermath. Then I will address the fiscal challenges that the country confronts. As always, and perhaps even more so this time, I will be speaking for myself and not necessarily for my colleagues at the Federal Reserve.