Ben Bernanke

One thing I like about the Fed Chairman is that he speaks in understandable prose, unlike his predecessor. Why did everyone think the Fed will ride to the rescue? It’s wishful thinking.

There will be no stimulus unless the economy and/or asset markets deteriorate further.

These questions sound like Congress thinks the US will be the next Greece. And that makes them likely to turn the US into the next Japan. The Congressmen almost never ask questions. They are statements posed as questions to get Bernanke to…

Rather than just send you to the link of Chairman Bernanke’s prepared remarks, I have coopied it hear and underlined the part you should pay attention to

The Fed could do a number of things: rate easing, municipal easing, inflation targeting, nominal GDP targeting. It is just that “the forward-looking cost-benefit analysis has shifted away from the potential benefits and towards greater…

Yesterday, Sheila Bair wrote an unusual Op-Ed in the Washington Post in that it was penned just after departing a high-ranking government position and it was also highly critical of the government’s policy responses. The obvious conclusion…

For my part, I am with Richard Koo. Monetary policy reflation will not work in a balance sheet recession when fiscal policy is contractionary. But at some point, the Fed will be compelled to act anyway.

Last week, when discussing what QE3 could look like I indicated that were the Federal Reserve to start expanding its balance sheet, QE3 will see interest rate caps after a pause and period of reflection. Let me address the differences…

Yesterday, I indicated that the FOMC has already considered offering unlimited quantitative easing to target specific interest rates during the second round of quantitative easing. I believe the Fed will do this in QE3, and apparently Bill…

Unfortunately, the US economy has weakened somewhat and so the speculation about QE3 has gathered apace. Let me say a few words on this topic here.