Posted on 12/06/2010 5:17:15 PM PST by Kaslin
Ben Bernanke may or may not succeed in saving the economy, but at least he has the courage to try — and the honesty to tell the truth. The same cannot be said of our elected officials. Congress is buried under a crushing surplus of cynicism, while the White House seems paralyzed by a deficit of courage.
An expert on the Great Depression, Bernanke is determined not to be the Federal Reserve chairman who allows the nation to plummet into Great Depression II. Since our political leaders can't be bothered to do what urgently needs to be done — stimulate the fragile economy before it sputters out — Bernanke is using a rare bit of legerdemain called "quantitative easing" to pump $600 billion into the financial system.
Fed chairmen are usually as silent as the Sphinx, except in official testimony. But Bernanke, facing criticism for his action, went on "60 Minutes" to explain why he's prepared to do even more.
He took the even more unusual step — for an economist — of using language that non-economists can understand. "The unemployment rate is just not going down," he said in the interview, which aired Sunday night. "Unemployment is just about the same as it was in mid-2009, when the economy started growing. ... And it looks that at current rates, that it may take some years before the unemployment rate is down to more normal levels."
The jobless rate is a devastating 9.8%. Bernanke calculates that unless the recovery is somehow accelerated, it will take four or five years for unemployment to come down to a "more normal" range below 6%.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
NO!
Made it worse.
And he is continuing to do the same things he did to make it worse.
We were saved from a depression?
Make that a H*ll NO!
Banana Ben is enabling obama’s spending and far from saving the economy is helped create the problems that led up to the disaster to begin with.
Say What? 30 Ben Bernanke Quotes That Are So Stupid That You Won’t Know Whether To Laugh Or Cry
Only if you believe that suicide prevents heart attacks.
3.00$ by Christmas my foot. I filled up TODAY for 2.99$.
HOWEVER, he might be the best central banker in the illustrious history of that breed, but no matter, when he drones, "it might take five or six years before we get back to full employment..." I know, clearly, that he doesn't get it. He's an academic, he doesn't understand the human engines of growth when acadademics just keep their greasy little hands off of them.
He's a national disaster, just like everyone else in this Administration from Hell.
All of the Goldman-Sachs executives, and all their friends at all the other finacial institutions, should have been personally bankrupted before 1 cent was spent to bail out their institutions.
All of the Goldman-Sachs executives, and all their friends at all the other finacial institutions, should have been personally bankrupted before 1 cent was spent to bail out their institutions.
Fixed it
Weak and Weaker
It is over $3 in NY already.
Three dollars for gasoline? It’s been over three bucks here for months. Actually $3.14
‘scuse me but aren’t the Dems’s saying that more UE benefits would help create jobs? Then what was all that back in the 1930’s called The Great Depression all about.Ok back then they called it welfare but jobs????
Imbecile!
Since that time he has been trying to keep the Democrat irresponsible economic policies from destroying the stop gap repairs he put in place.
I don't like what he has done but he has not been dealt a particularly good hand by our political leadership.
I don't know what else he could have done under the circumstances.
We are in for 10-12 rough years no matter what is done or not done. Bernanke’s moves so far have temporarily softened the initial blow, but he's walking a high-wire. There will be a payment later in the cycle for his early moves. We will have to see if that payment is worth its’ price later.
We won't know for at least decade how to judge Bernanke. This workout is just getting under way, there will be fits and starts and setbacks. Even if all the right guesses and moves are made (highly unlikely) we are going to experience low-growth for about decade compared to historical norms.
I don't agree with a lot that he has done, but I have to admit it's too early in this game make any judgments. We are still in the first quarter.
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