A Look Back – Bernanke’s “Lessons from History” Speech

One year ago, Ben Bernanke presented a speech titled “Economic Policy: Lessons from History.” I view this speech as highly noteworthy – epochal, even – especially in relation to the efforts made to “bring the economy back” from the depths of the Financial Crisis. Here are some excerpts that I find particularly relevant: “I draw …

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“Don’t Fight The Fed” & Related Phrases

“Don’t fight the Fed” is a phrase that has been in existence for decades, and has been heard often, especially lately. Other related phrases heard include “the Fed’s got your back.”  And, of course, “the Bernanke Put” and, while Greenspan was Federal Reserve Chairman, “the Greenspan Put.”  Many of these phrases seem related to the …

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The Stock Market And Its “Wealth Effect”

On February 18 I wrote a post concerning Alan Greenspan’s comments regarding the stock market “as a stimulus.” In this post, I would like to highlight comments made by Federal Reserve officials (Bernanke and Sack) as well as another made by Greenspan, as I believe that these official comments regarding the stock market’s “wealth effect” …

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Ben Bernanke’s Speech And Q&A On February 3, 2011

I could comment extensively on Ben Bernanke’s speech and Q&A at the National Press Club yesterday, as I partially and fully disagree on many of the comments he made.  I find it unfortunate that official transcripts of this and previous Q&A sessions are not available.  (speech video and transcript;  Q&A video and partial transcript) One …

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The Wealth Disparity

In his “60 Minutes” interview of Sunday (which I commented upon in the last post), Ben Bernanke responded to  a question (from Scott Pelley) regarding the wealth disparity: Pelley: The gap between rich and poor in this country has never been greater. In fact, we have the biggest income disparity gap of any industrialized country …

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Ben Bernanke’s December 5 2010 “60 Minutes” Interview – Comments

Ben Bernanke gave his second interview to “60 Minutes” last night. This interview is very notable in many respects.  I could make extensive comments on various aspects of the interview, as I continue to have vast differences of opinion with many of Ben Bernanke’s stated comments and analyses.   For now I will make some …

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Nassim Taleb Quote On Bernanke

In the November 22 – November 28 Bloomberg BusinessWeek, p23, Nassim Taleb is quoted as saying the following, which I find interesting: “Bernanke is someone who talks about returns without talking about risk.  It’s identical to a pilot who talks about speed but not about safety.  The measures he is using may work, but should …

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Ben Bernanke November 6, 2010 Remarks On QE2

On Saturday (November 6) Ben Bernanke took part in a panel discussion.  This was part of The Federal Reserve conference “A Return to Jekyll Island: The Origins, History, and Future of the Federal Reserve.” I found these comments, pertaining to QE2, to be highly notable: Ben Bernanke: “There is not really, in my mind, as …

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