The Fed is about to enter a new phase in the recovery process.

That was the message relayed to attendees at the sixth annual Economic Outlook 2015 Breakfast Presentation held recently at the Mahoning Valley Country Club in Lehighton.The program began with opening remarks from Marlyn Kissner, executive director of the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corporation.After breakfast, Patrick H. Reilly, president and CEO of Mauch Chunk Trust Company, introduced Edmond Seifried.Seifried is co-chairman of Seifried & Brew, the executive director of the Sheshunoff Affiliation Program, and professor emeritus of economics and business at Lafayette College in Easton.His presentation pertained to the U.S. Economy: The Lull Before the Storm?In particular, Seifried focused on interest rates, economic growth and the light at the end of the tunnel.He said there were five essential concepts to understand: zero boundary, large scale asset purchase, normalization, interest on excess reserves; and the reinvestment phase-out.A brief question-and-answer session followed.The event was co-sponsored by the CCEDC, the Tamaqua Area Chamber of Commerce, and PPL Electric Utilities Corporation.After the event, Seifried offered additional thoughts."My view on the state of the economy is that we are now poised to enter a very important stage of our economic recovery from the financial crisis and subsequent great recession," he said."Recall the severe economic damage to our economy, and especially the labor markets, that caused the Federal reserve to take the unprecedented steps of lowering the target rate of interest to zero, and later to begin massive bond buying programs in an effort to inject trillions of dollars of liquidity into the economy."Seifried said, "The economy responded positively to these stimuli, perhaps not as much as hoped for, but clearly GDP growth has returned to more normal levels, with admittedly some volatility, and the labor market health is much improved.""However, these gains have only occurred during this period of intensive monetary accommodation," he said. "The main question today is whether or not the economy is strong enough to begin to slowly remove that monetary policy accommodation."