Fed Chairman Ben Blah-blahnanke holds a press conference

Nothing like listening to an egghead tell us how things are in the real world!

Summary: In the short period of time that I listened to the Chairman speak, the items below are what I took from it. For anyone who is involved in the real world and real life with mouths to feed and bills to pay, they should probably not waste any of their time listening to an egghead tell them what's what! Mr. Bernanke's reality is much different than our reality, but he is who we have been reduced to relying on.

I spent about ten minutes listening to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke speak to policy and the general economy, and then I just couldn't do it anymore. In reality, does a rigorous academic discussion (this was a term used by my business school professors) really tell us anything about the trenches that you and I fight in each day?

Mr. Bernanke speaks about economic stabilization leading to economic recovery and of having had to take extraordinary steps during a period of massive economic turmoil. He spoke a great deal of the Fed mandate to control inflation while doing many things to help economic growth. He spoke of how the country has a strong and stable dollar policy.

Quantitative easing was discussed with the questioner stating that many economists feel that QEII was ineffective. Mr. Bernnanke supported QEII as a success because the stock market has risen and fixed income spreads have narrowed. It was never meant to be a panacea Mr. Bernanke said.

On oil, Bernanke said that the expectation is that oil prices will either stabilize or go down. Is this opinion based on any fact or simply because that's what we want to hear?

ENOUGH ALREADY

Once again, in the short period of time that I listened to the Chairman speak the items mentioned below are what I took from it (although I am sure there was more that I missed). As I said at the beginning, anyone who is involved in the real world and real life with mouths to feed and bills to pay should not waste any of their time listening to an egghead tell you what's what!

• The Fed can't create more oil (although his boss is doing everything in his power to stop it)
• Long-term unemployed lose skills and lose contact with the labor market
• Oil price rise is a result of supply and demand
• The dollar fluctuates but is held in high regard around the world
• The government wants a strong and stable dollar
• Again, they want price stability and a stable dollar
• We have made a lot of progress on jobs creation
• The Fed has a keep inflation low mandate
• The economy has strengthened
• Inflation is basically low
• The dollar is weak now due to the unwinding of the safe-haven effect
• Deficits are a long-term problem that require long-term solutions
• He doesn't want to do anything rash short-term that could impact the economic recovery
• He's watching things very carefully and is ready to act because there is no substitution for action

Do you feel better and hopeful now? You should as Mr. Bernanke feels somewhat hopeful and better about the direction of the economy! And nobody is more book smart than that guy!

Subscribe now for free email or feed delivery of new TPC articles here:

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Subscribe in a reader