An anemic first-year recovery would make companies reluctant to rehire laid-off workers.

There had been speculation in recent weeks that the Fed was moving toward lower rates amid growing evidence of an anemic economic recovery.

"An anemic economic recovery is Public Enemy No. 1," he said, not inflation.

The Administration has tried to blame regulators for the anemic recovery.

Still, the year was a great relief to investors who had lived through a recession, an anemic recovery and the worst market decline since the 1970's.

And the longer prices remain above $30 a barrel, the more they threaten to weaken the already anemic economic recovery.

This is a principal cause of the slowdown in long-run economic growth and of the anemic recovery we are experiencing.

He worked hard to keep the city's books balanced for four years during a brutal recession and anemic recovery.

"The market has built in a very anemic recovery, which in essence is saying the Fed will not be effective," he said.

President Bush promised that his tax cuts would produce an economic boom; he delivered a big deficit and an anemic economic recovery.