In the wake of Mayor Daley’s decision to step down, every Monday "Eight Forty-Eight" is looking at some of the issues facing Chicago’s next mayor.

 On this episode of Mayor Monday, the show looks at the economy.

It’s taking a while to move out of the recession: Unemployment hovers at 9.8 percent and the housing market remains depressed. Meanwhile consumer confidence is still in short supply.

In November, the Federal Reserve announced its intent to purchase $600 billion of U.S. Treasuries to encourage more lending and spending. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hopes this so-called quantitative easing will stave off deflation.

To help us understand more about this strategy, "Eight Forty-Eight" spoke to Bill Strauss. Strauss is a senior economist and advisor in the economic research department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.