News Summary: Fed's Evans defends central bank

AGGRESSIVE APPROACH: A Federal Reserve official who has advocated more aggressive moves on the part of the central bank to combat high unemployment says the country cannot afford timid efforts to support the economy.

THE CASE: Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said Wednesday that he wholeheartedly supported the moves the Fed took earlier this month to buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities every month in an effort to drive interest rates lower and stimulate economic growth.

THE CRITICS: Charles Plosser, president of the Fed's Philadelphia branch, expressed doubts a day earlier, arguing that the bond buying effort was unlikely to boost economic growth and risked harming the Fed's credibility as an inflation fighter.