from San Diego Union Tribune’s EconoMeter panel.

Q: Will the Federal Reserve  begin charging “negative interest,” as Japan is doing, to stave off a recession and deflation?

Bob’s Answer: No.

Japan has been fighting deflation since the 1990s, while the U.

S. has been trying to boost an economy that has been moving along at a moderate pace. Japan is trying desperately to get to 2 percent inflation while the U.

S. is growing at approximately 2 to 2.5 percent. The European Central Bank tried this in June 2014 with no success and the U.

S. will not follow suit.

Read more answers here.