This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Watch Bernanke And Ron Paul In Two Separate Hearings Discuss The Impact Of Monetary Policy On Jobs
Federal Reserve Chairman Rudolph Shalom Von Bernankestein will testify before the House Budget Committee starting at 10 am Eastern today. Congressional employees of the Fed and the Banking syndicate are expected to question the Fed's plans on avoiding inflation and the current unemployment rate. We expect more of the same "QE is working because after spending $2 trillion we got 650,000 part time jobs, and we are certain it is working because rates are surging, and wholesale mortgage are now again at the higest since April, which doesn't make sense but I am a Princeton economist (Ph.D.) and you don't get this complicated stuff."
The full hearing can be watched on C-Span by clicking on the link below after 10am.
Concurrently, and maybe more importantly, at the same time The Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy now headed by Ron Paul will hold a hearing on the topic of “Can Monetary Policy Really Create Jobs?”
That hearing can be watched at the link below.
Full Bernanke speech:
The Economic Outlook and Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
February 9, 2011
Chairman Ryan, Ranking Member Van Hollen, and other members of
the Committee, I am pleased to have this opportunity to offer my views
on the economic outlook, monetary policy, and issues pertaining to the
federal budget.
The Economic Outlook
The economic recovery that began in the middle of 2009 appears to
have strengthened in the past few months, although the unemployment
rate remains high. The initial phase of the recovery, which occurred in
the second half of 2009 and in early 2010, was in large part
attributable to the stabilization of the financial system, the effects
of expansionary monetary and fiscal policies, and the strong boost to
production from businesses rebuilding their depleted inventories. But
economic growth slowed significantly last spring and concerns about the
durability of the recovery intensified as the impetus from inventory
building and fiscal stimulus diminished and as Europe's fiscal and
banking problems roiled global financial markets.
More recently, however, we have seen increased evidence that a
self-sustaining recovery in consumer and business spending may be taking
hold. Notably, real consumer spending rose at an annual rate of more
than 4 percent in the fourth quarter. Although strong sales of motor
vehicles accounted for a significant portion of this pickup, the recent
gains in consumer spending appear reasonably broad based. Business
investment in new equipment and software increased robustly throughout
much of last year, as firms replaced aging equipment and as the demand
for their products and services expanded. Construction remains weak,
though, reflecting an overhang of vacant and foreclosed homes and
continued poor fundamentals for most types of commercial real estate.
Overall, improving household and business confidence, accommodative
monetary policy, and more-supportive financial conditions, including an
apparently increasing willingness of banks to lend, seem likely to
result in a more rapid pace of economic recovery in 2011 than we saw
last year.
While indicators of spending and production have been encouraging
on balance, the job market has improved only slowly. Following the loss
of about 8-3/4 million jobs from 2008 through 2009, private-sector
employment expanded by a little more than 1 million in 2010. However,
this gain was barely sufficient to accommodate the inflow of recent
graduates and other new entrants to the labor force and, therefore, not
enough to significantly erode the wide margin of slack that remains in
our labor market. Notable declines in the unemployment rate in December
and January, together with improvement in indicators of job openings and
firms' hiring plans, do provide some grounds for optimism on the
employment front. Even so, with output growth likely to be moderate for a
while and with employers reportedly still reluctant to add to their
payrolls, it will be several years before the unemployment rate has
returned to a more normal level. Until we see a sustained period of
stronger job creation, we cannot consider the recovery to be truly
established.
On the inflation front, we have recently seen increases in some
highly visible prices, notably for gasoline. Indeed, prices of many
industrial and agricultural commodities have risen lately, largely as a
result of the very strong demand from fast-growing emerging market
economies, coupled, in some cases, with constraints on supply.
Nonetheless, overall inflation is still quite low and longer-term
inflation expectations have remained stable. Over the 12 months ending
in December, prices for all the goods and services consumed by
households (as measured by the price index for personal consumption
expenditures) increased by only 1.2 percent, down from 2.4 percent over
the prior 12 months. To assess underlying trends in inflation,
economists also follow several alternative measures of inflation; one
such measure is so-called core inflation, which excludes the more
volatile food and energy components and therefore can be a better
predictor of where overall inflation is headed. Core inflation was only
0.7 percent in 2010, compared with around 2-1/2 percent in 2007, the
year before the recession began. Wage growth has slowed as well, with
average hourly earnings increasing only 1.7 percent last year. These
downward trends in wage and price inflation are not surprising, given
the substantial slack in the economy.
Monetary Policy
Although the growth rate of economic activity appears likely to
pick up this year, the unemployment rate probably will remain elevated
for some time. In addition, inflation is expected to persist below the
levels that Federal Reserve policymakers have judged to be consistent
over the longer term with our statutory mandate to foster maximum
employment and price stability. Under such conditions, the Federal
Reserve would typically ease monetary policy by reducing its target for
the federal funds rate. However, the target range for the federal funds
rate has been near zero since December 2008, leaving essentially no room
for further reductions. As a consequence, since then we have been using
alternative tools to provide additional monetary accommodation. In
particular, over the past two years the Federal Reserve has further
eased monetary conditions by purchasing longer-term
securities--specifically, Treasury, agency, and agency mortgage-backed
securities--on the open market. These purchases are settled through the
banking system, with the result that depository institutions now hold a
very high level of reserve balances with the Federal Reserve.
Although large-scale purchases of longer-term securities are a
different monetary policy tool than the more familiar approach of
targeting the federal funds rate, the two types of policies affect the
economy in similar ways. Conventional monetary policy easing works by
lowering market expectations for the future path of short-term interest
rates, which, in turn, reduces the current level of longer-term interest
rates and contributes to an easing in broader financial conditions.
These changes, by reducing borrowing costs and raising asset prices,
bolster household and business spending and thus increase economic
activity. By comparison, the Federal Reserve's purchases of longer-term
securities do not affect very short-term interest rates, which remain
close to zero, but instead put downward pressure directly on longer-term
interest rates. By easing conditions in credit and financial markets,
these actions encourage spending by households and businesses through
essentially the same channels as conventional monetary policy, thereby
strengthening the economic recovery. Indeed, a wide range of market
indicators suggest that the Federal Reserve's securities purchases have
been effective at easing financial conditions, lending credence to the
view that these actions are providing significant support to job
creation and economic growth.1
My colleagues and I have said that we will review the asset
purchase program regularly in light of incoming information and will
adjust it as needed to promote maximum employment and stable prices. In
particular, we remain unwaveringly committed to price stability, and we
are confident that we have the tools to be able to smoothly and
effectively exit from the current highly accommodative policy stance at
the appropriate time. Our ability to pay interest on reserve balances
held at the Federal Reserve Banks will allow us to put upward pressure
on short-term market interest rates and thus to tighten monetary policy
when needed, even if bank reserves remain high. Moreover, we have
developed additional tools that will allow us to drain or immobilize
bank reserves as needed to facilitate the smooth withdrawal of policy
accommodation when conditions warrant. If necessary, we could also
tighten policy by redeeming or selling securities.
As I am appearing before the Budget Committee, it is worth
emphasizing that the Fed's purchases of longer-term securities are not
comparable to ordinary government spending. In executing these
transactions, the Federal Reserve acquires financial assets, not goods
and services; thus, these purchases do not add to the government's
deficit or debt. Ultimately, at the appropriate time, the Federal
Reserve will normalize its balance sheet by selling these assets back
into the market or by allowing them to run off. In the interim, the
interest that the Federal Reserve earns from its securities holdings
adds to the Fed's remittances to the Treasury; in 2009 and 2010, those
remittances totaled about $125 billion.
Fiscal Policy
Fiscal policymakers also face significant challenges. Our
nation's fiscal position has deteriorated appreciably since the onset of
the financial crisis and the recession. To a significant extent, this
deterioration is the result of the effects of the weak economy on
revenues and outlays, along with the actions that the Administration and
the Congress took to ease the recession and steady financial markets.
However, even after economic and financial conditions return to normal,
the federal budget will remain on an unsustainable path, with the budget
gap becoming increasingly large over time, unless the Congress enacts
significant changes in fiscal programs.
For example, under plausible assumptions about how fiscal
policies might evolve in the absence of major legislative changes, the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects the deficit to fall from its
current level of about 9 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to 5
percent of GDP by 2015, but then to rise to about 6-1/2 percent of GDP
by the end of the decade.2 In
subsequent years, the budget situation is projected to deteriorate even
more rapidly, with federal debt held by the public reaching almost 90
percent of GDP by 2020 and 150 percent by 2030, up from about 60 percent
at the end of fiscal year 2010.
The long-term fiscal challenges confronting the nation are
especially daunting because they are mostly the product of powerful
underlying trends, not short-term or temporary factors. The two most
important driving forces behind the budget deficit are the aging of the
population and rapidly rising health-care costs. Indeed, the CBO
projects that federal spending for health-care programs will roughly
double as a percentage of GDP over the next 25 years.3 The
ability to control health-care spending, while still providing
high-quality care to those who need it, will be critical for bringing
the federal budget onto a sustainable path.
The CBO's long-term budget projections, by design, do not account
for the likely adverse economic effects of such high debt and deficits.
But if government debt and deficits were actually to grow at the pace
envisioned, the economic and financial effects would be severe.
Sustained high rates of government borrowing would both drain funds away
from private investment and increase our debt to foreigners, with
adverse long-run effects on U.S. output, incomes, and standards of
living. Moreover, diminishing investor confidence that deficits will be
brought under control would ultimately lead to sharply rising interest
rates on government debt and, potentially, to broader financial turmoil.
In a vicious circle, high and rising interest rates would cause
debt-service payments on the federal debt to grow even faster, resulting
in further increases in the debt-to-GDP ratio and making fiscal
adjustment all the more difficult.
In thinking about achieving fiscal sustainability, it is useful
to apply the concept of the primary budget deficit, which is the
government budget deficit excluding interest payments on the national
debt. To stabilize the ratio of federal debt to the GDP--a useful
benchmark for assessing fiscal sustainability--the primary budget
deficit must be reduced to zero.4 Under
the CBO projection that I noted earlier, the primary budget deficit is
expected to be 2 percent of GDP in 2015 and then rise to almost 3
percent of GDP in 2020 and 6 percent of GDP in 2030. These projections
provide a gauge of the adjustments that will be necessary to attain
fiscal sustainability. To put the budget on a sustainable trajectory,
policy actions--either reductions in spending, increases in revenues, or
some combination of the two--will have to be taken to eventually close
these primary budget gaps.
By definition, the unsustainable trajectories of deficits and
debt that the CBO outlines cannot actually happen, because creditors
would never be willing to lend to a government with debt, relative to
national income, that is rising without limit. One way or the other,
fiscal adjustments sufficient to stabilize the federal budget must occur
at some point. The question is whether these adjustments will take
place through a careful and deliberative process that weighs priorities
and gives people adequate time to adjust to changes in government
programs or tax policies, or whether the needed fiscal adjustments will
come as a rapid and painful response to a looming or actual fiscal
crisis. Acting now to develop a credible program to reduce future
deficits would not only enhance economic growth and stability in the
long run, but could also yield substantial near-term benefits in terms
of lower long-term interest rates and increased consumer and business
confidence. Plans recently put forward by the President's National
Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and other prominent
groups provide useful starting points for a much-needed national
conversation. Although these proposals differ on many details, they
demonstrate that realistic solutions to our fiscal problems do exist.
Of course, economic growth is affected not only by the levels of
taxes and spending, but also by their composition and structure. I hope
that, in addressing our long-term fiscal challenges, the Congress and
the Administration will undertake reforms to the government's tax
policies and spending priorities that serve not only to reduce the
deficit, but also to enhance the long-term growth potential of our
economy--for example, by reducing disincentives to work and to save, by
encouraging investment in the skills of our workforce as well as new
machinery and equipment, by promoting research and development, and by
providing necessary public infrastructure. Our nation cannot reasonably
expect to grow its way out of our fiscal imbalances, but a more
productive economy will ease the tradeoffs that we face.
Thank you. I would be pleased to take your questions.
»
- 18983 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Here in Belgium, we now have more people employed then before the crisis.
1 important note:
We didn't have a govenrment untill now that actually screwed up things and made everything worse.
When they were talking about reducing "big government", I bet you didn't think they were going to cut their own jobs first!
So when Bernank was talking about creating jobs, he was talking about jobs in other countries.
not that no. US investments in the EU are at a all time low.
Maybe now, but how about a flashback?
Financial crisis of 2008: Mr. Bernanke, we sent billions and billions of dollars to Europe. Do you know where the money went?
"No"
Could you and your Econ PhDs figure out who got the money?
"It went to various institutions and central banks"
That was not the question. Could you find out where it went?
"Look, it went to institutions that have PhDs in Economics working for them. Thats good enough for me, it should be good enough for you"
You still did not answer the question.
+1
Too funny.
Off course he was talking about creating jobs overseas. Thats why he said the tax code needs to be addressed, so these forign banks can move their money to emerging markets where they have already moved the factories to.
Bernake blatently confuses the word "worker" with "investor"
He talks about worker deterents, he really means investor deterents.
How many Belgians does it take to fill a pothole? Fifteen!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu7tz1wjJQQ
No wonder unemployment in Belgium is so low!
Government jobs and orange jumpsuits for all!
Looks like a training class with the guy not in an orange suit being the instructor.
My name is Ben Bernake. Although it may seem that my role is to represent the US,
my actual function is representing foriegn banks and their interests. We understand you have a some budget balance issues going on is the US.
It concerns us, (tear, tear), but we need to get fucking paid on the interest, NOW! Not later. Raise the debt ceiling, and pay us!
If not the world will end, Foriegn Banks not getting paid by the US slaves will not be able to pay other forign banks and it would just cascade into a total
destructive spiral, and the world would just end, trust me that's the way it would happen.
We understand that you have budget issues, (Medicare, Social Security, Entitlements), those things can and should be cut in order to pay us, I mean the foriegn banks, the interest, I really meant the bond holders, you know US bond holders. Ya that's right.
Even though many of our member banks have legal addresses of operations in the states,
the money is really funneled to foriegn banks and invested in emerging markets, cuz thats where the money is at. See, the factories have already all moved across the sea. Now we just need to get the capital there to finance their growth.
So please makes some OFFSETS now, short term , long term it dont matter, just pay us NOW, because we just bought many of those bogus bonds from China, with the assumption that we were going to get paid.
It's not our fault you have budget problems,
And across town is Ron Paul at another hearing.
My name is Ron Paul and I am here today to dismantle the fed and prosecute many of its members for treason, racketeering, fraud, conspiracy and conspiracy to control the people through CFPB.
Further more will we default on the debt and freze interest payments.
This is a NATIONAL SECURITY issue, and as President, I must dismantle the fed because they are a group of foriegn banks that are trying to destroy the US with their polices.
Foriegn banks, with US addresses have inflitrated the US and they must be kicked out, the fed must be dismantled, and a frezze on all interest payments because we have been defrauded.
A new currency will be issued soon. This one will be soverign.
This is Stanley Kubrick and my current vessel has a short period of life. The shell/gold game is what gets most people out of bed every day. We tried to get to asia for the safron scented heroin pipes but all we ended up with was a bunch of potatoes and tomatoes. They print money for us but in return they need us to provide them gasoline for their political entertainment.
I am deeply hurt by indigestion. Everyone should share in the bubbles.
This is a NATIONAL SECURITY issue, and as President, I must dismantle the fed because they are a group of foriegn banks that are trying to destroy the US with their polices.
Foriegn banks, with US addresses have inflitrated the US and they must be kicked out, the fed must be dismantled, and a frezze on all interest payments because we have been defrauded.
A new currency will be issued soon. This one will be soverign.
Belgium also has a population of around 10 million people. A significantly easier number to manage in terms of social needs and employment.
It's 10 o'clock. Do you know where your hearing is Ben?
I personally think Bernanke should be awarded Time Magazine's Man of the Year.
Since when in the history of the human race has 1 man single handedly been the destroyer of the entire world's economies. You gotta give it to him. He's like the Banker's version of Rambo.
He already was in 2009.
I guess they beat me to the punch.
What a treat. Tune into one stream to see the propaganda or tune into the other to watch what is actually causing skying commodity costs and the true employment picture.
Same speech he gave to the National Press Club.
and at his AA meeting...
I tend to think that Paul Ryan might be genuine. Time will tell.
He asked damn good questions, all clumsily evaded by the Bernanke...
He is one of the few politicians that I have seen speak recently that struck me that they may actually know exactly what it is they are saying.I'm enjoying the banter between permanent and temporary monitization. What do they expect Ben to say we're monetizing the entire deficit going forward...spend on!
Paul Ryan is the real deal. Carries around Atlas Shrugged.
Paul Ryan is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He appears to be good on fiscal matters, but voted for every foreign war, Bush's prescription drug program, Medicare/Medicaid, etc.
Maybe he's changed, but I doubt it.
"Paul Ryan is a wolf in sheep's clothing."
Like the vast majority of them. Lots of hot air, no follow through.
He is a fine example of controlled opposition that helps reinforce DC's thin facade of integrity. At the end of the day, his words mean nothing, as it is his actions that are telling.
+1000 thanks
agreed.
it's a "good cop/bad cop" script, all theatre for the viewers, ignored by the majority for other "reality" shows. . .
Agreed. Ryan also voted for TARP, auto bailouts, etc. He talks a good game, but his actual votes speak louder than his words.
very aptly stated...he is a wolf in sheep's clothing, aka shrewd politician.
Outwardly he seems very concerned about the state of the country, deficits, debt etc., but when voting time comes it's an entirely different matter.
I think a much clearer picture of who Paul Ryan is can be found by looking at his voting record....actions speak louder than words.
It's just a dog and pony show. He's a right wing establishment Republican. He voted for TARP. He voted for bailing out the automobile industry. He also votes for all the Vietnam-style wars that have been going on non-stopped since 9/11. And as someone has already said, he voted for all of Bush's big social welfare programs as well. Just another Newt Gingrich type. Don't look at what they say, for they are masters of deceit. Look at what they do, how they vote. It's that simple. It's not that hard to look at someone's voting record.
That buzzing noise is really annoying.
interesting....
you hear voices also when you're alone?...
are they telling you to do thing?....
....buy......gold.......buy......gold....
Hah, nah, the audio stream has a faint background "bzzt" noise - probably a compression artifact.
Or an iPhone 3G next to the recording equipment.
I'm getting the same and it is interfering with my ability to clearly hear what is being said. I often listen into these house hearings via same connection as now, and it has never been this bad from my experience. Also of note is that this is curiously not on CSPAN...go figure....but what is on CSPAN instead is General Speeches made by Representatives. OK, so which one is more important and should be televised?
Oh shit, I have to go now....Blarney Flake is speaking and I have to get a barf bucket fast!
Either read the other (usually excellent) ZH articles or watch a liar lie and repeat a worthless speech....what to do, what to do....
Multitask. Do both. I'm listening to Bernie's lesson in semi-artful lying while reading here.
China puts the brakes on global grwoth and "the markets" are up again.
If China was supposedly the engine behind the rising stock market, how is it when they stop, stocks still go up? hmmm Of course, we all here know the answer... buy a gallon of milk or gas recently?
Better buy your chinese scooters before the prices go up on them also. There is going to be a huge market for them when gas hits $5 a gallon and people don't want to spend 2 grand on a japanese scooter.
for $100, turn your bike into a gas powered motorcycle that gets 150mpg:
http://cgi.ebay.com/49cc-Motor-Bicycle-kit-GAS-ENGINE-Motorized-BIKE-Z50...
And Van Hollen comes out licking The Bernanks testes.
"We have been lucky as a nation to have such a student of the depression"
Van Hollen top contributiors:
Cornerstone capital
Boeing/Lockheed Martin
Nearly every union in existence and Dept of HHS and numerous medical groups.
All of those reliant upon taxpayer sodomy for their benefit.
Van Hollen made me gag. Ran to the toilet, stuck my head in and lost my breakfast.
Listening to Big Ben make 20 year forecast is making me repeat the above with dry heaves
Ben's education may have been enough to postpone, yet significantly worsen the ultimate severity, of what will come down the pike. This tool actually believes that you can stimy the forces of nature, idiot.
Van Hollen is a threat to national security
If Ron Paul keeps pushing banksters so hard, he may get assassinated. Remember the whistle-blower on silver manipulation last spring?
Andrew Maguire? He's not dead. Though it sure has been difficult to get any information on him since that driver allegedly took a run at him and his wife. Think he is in a 'cone of silence' until the class action lawsuits against Morgan and HSBC are finished? (By 'finished' I mean the banks pay what to them is a paltry fine while admitting absolutely no wrong doing, nobody goes to prison, etc.)
No news or info on the guy that hit him after being apprehended.
Think he is in a 'cone of silence' until the class action lawsuits against Morgan and HSBC are finished
And loving it!
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=alcABq2uaBOc
Mark Pittman, Reporter Who Challenged Fed Secrecy, Dies at 52
Nov. 30, 2009 (Bloomberg) -- Mark Pittman, the award-winning reporter whose fight to make the Federal Reserve more accountable to taxpayers led Bloomberg News to sue the central bank and win, died Nov. 25 in Yonkers, New York. He was 52.
Pittman suffered from heart-related illnesses. The precise cause of death wasn’t known, said his friend William Karesh...
On the subject of fringe theories....(Wheeler murder)
http://codshit.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-pentagon-broke-deadlock-over-start.html
http://codshit.blogspot.com/2010/11/gareth-williams-and-gudrun-loftus.html
representative clay, the ranking democrat, just said (9:15 cst) that money printing doesn't hurt the usd. said the fed is exercizing wise, prudent, monetary policy.
You mean Andrew "Dice" Clay??
hickory dickory dock
Ben's running out the clock
givin' the econ a boost
fore the chics come home to roost
...
The Fed claims it needs to create inflation as an offset for deflation (on bank balance sheets) that is never discussed. At the sme time it denies causing any of the commodity inflation seen by everyone.
Doublethink:
"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth.”
George Orwell, "Nineteen Eighty Four"
OT: Toronto and London stock exchanges to merge: http://www.financialpost.com/news/finalize+historic+merger/4249443/story.html
Glatzkopf - Take both his passports and impound the executive jet. Then have him testify with a polygraph hooked up to him
Watching both at the same time was difficult.
Mr. Ben sir, why do you have a clothespin fastened to your lower lip?
"confident we can exit current policy" okay Ben, who the FUCK is going to buy 10 Bill worth of SHIT a DAY when you stop?
blah blah blah blah,
www.silvergoldsilver.blogspot.com
Exactly right, NO way out! My question to Ben Shalom if I was there- 'Mr Chairsatan the markets are up 45% due to your POMO monetization of stocks and bonds...who will buy them when any such program is halted'?
Que crickets.
anonymous billionaires! oh wait.....
The exit strategy is this. We hold these securities until rampant inflation takes the
DOW to 36,000 and these securities tripple in price.
Then we sell this junk back to the US gov and exit the country.
If the US starts talikng about default, we will raise rates until you are forced into receivership. Then we will sell off your infrascture and military to forign banks.
Now its just a matter of time until we raise rated and force you to default, and your ass will be auctioned off to our China affilate.
Further more, as much as we detest dealing with peasants we have decided with the help of Frank and Dodd to set up a citizenery watch council to monitor every transactions that every individual makes, from buying a donut, to what you are saying in your blog. Of course this has been set up under the guise of a consumer protection group known as the CFPB.
Although, total control of the CFPB will be granted to the Treasuary, although we will be paying the bills, since we are instaling the IT systems and such, and also installing our own director, even though he will be appointed by the Treasary.
Now we will have total control over each and every citizen. And their credit cards! Well see how many Tylyer Durden's are left after July!
Correction.
The Fed exit strategy will be this.
They will hold the MBS bag, and add to it. They will hold Treasarys and add to it.
They will bail out munis and some forign govs.
Then when the dollar is hyperinflated, worthless the FED will demand the physical assets of the cities and the nation to auction off.
Off course they will be paid with a "new currency" one which is classified right now and we can't disclose the details.
If needed to expediate the stragety the Fed will rasie rates to forece us into default.
He's attempting to put the committee to sleep and it's working. Put me to sleep.
No he isn't trying to put them to sleep. He is trying to extort a ceiling increase from Congress. Further more Ben is trying to lay the groundwork for blame on the further crisis soley on fiscal issues. Budgets. Balanced budgets, eventhough we all know there is no way out.
When inflation hits (that's the metric) look for the fed to dump all this shit back on the US, raise rates, rasie rates, force the US into recevorship.
Sell buildings , infrasture to forign banks.
Just hire HarryWanger to speak on behalf of Bernanke. It'd be cheaper but still get the same amount of BS on how great the economy is.
perhaps they are one and the same...
Yep, if the sheeple really believe headline unemployment is dropping because the economy is picking up...I'm sure he is "encouraged".
my head is going to explode. he is insisting inflation is low.
No he is insisting that inflation is happening everywhere on the globe but the U.S. He says it's because their economies are growing so...inflation good!
Hey! Don't listen to Bernank or you'll get brain tumor. Switch on to that other channel. The guys from Mises Institute talking a lot of sense!
http://financialserv.edgeboss.net/wmedia-live/financialserv/16489/300_fi...
The commentary doesn't appear to be any better than the audio quality.
Even as a pinko progressive, I have to give much respect to Rep. Ryan. The most polite grilling I've ever seen while not letting Ben off the hook.
A House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on State and Municipal Debt: The Coming Crisis?”
Live blog on wsj:
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/02/09/live-blogging-the-hearings-on-the-...
more bullshit and fairytales. Go get in your limo and resume fetal position bernanke
India expects record harvest: Will food prices cool down now?
http://dawnwires.com/commodities/agri-india-expects-food-grain-output/
Am not sure given prices no longer depend on supply demand but rather on ben ctrl-p
India only exports 2000 metric tons, which is exactly what the U.S. imports. Globally, the effect will probably be minimal.
Losing the war: do people still want to buy all of the crap they used to buy? If the urge is less compelling, the whole apple cart turns over. It means less demand for credit, less velocity of money, less of a multiplier effect and less demand. It's Ben's deflation nightmare, and it's happening right now. But the necessities like food and energy are constrained in terms of supply and demand from developing countries and will continue to rise. Can you say double whammy??
its amazing when you are weened off the credit cards and buying of junk, how disgusting it looks when you are "sober"......i seemost of the items laying around and i just want to smash them.....i have been "sober" for over 3 years and i will never go back
+1
Never was much of a collecter of dustables and other usless junque but I've still somehow managed to have waaaaaay too much stuff in need of smashing. I, too will never go back.
me three.
4
Apple is already making the NEWEST iPAD so that should really stimulate the economy...
or not. When will people wake up and see the giant house of cards is built on NOTHING?
Maybe Bernank and Lloyd Blankfein feel all better now because they are doing god's work and there is now an app for that:
iPhone Confession App Gets Catholic Blessinghttp://www.thestreet.com/story/11000956/1/iphone-confession-app-gets-cat...
They aren't Catholic so don't go to confession but I'm sure they'll use it to hedge their bets...
Blythe sure is busy keeping a lid on the gold futures pot this morning. Trying to keep every hole plugged... probably reminds her of working her way thru school....
Wow QE2 created ~700,000 jobs? So each $1,000,000,000 ~ 1 job.
Just saw that whopper, although to be fair he did emphasize they were "simulated jobs".
Gotta wonder if the IRS will accept "simulated" tax payments this year...
I thought math was supposed to be their strong point. I'll take $1,000,000,000 to take whatever job they are offering.
I thought the same thing. My math comes to $928,000 plus change for each job.
No offense to TPTB, but that seems a bit steep for a burger-flipper.
My math was wrong. he says ~ 700,000 for half of the QE2 total. So only 350 Billion so far. Each job cost $500,000.
I seem to have some extra zeros in my first post.
That was thought, 1/2 million per job? What a joke is that?
Those jobs were natural occuring anyway.
I better state ment would have been, it cost $350 billion to raise the DOW up a few thousand points!
Look at Tyler's earlier post...apparently those are some expensive PART TIME jobs.
Oh and Bernanke and Obama are just trying to "Win the Future!"
WTF indeed, WTF...
"Win the Future" must be code speak between the elitists. Like "the Big Short."
"Danny, be the Future, be the Future."
Bernake tallks about worker deterences. Says the tax code deters, workers, but he means investors.
Specificly forign banks who want to get their money out of the US before it collapses and into emerging markets.
The worst part of this is going to be explaining to our kids how we fell for it!
That's easy. It's a lesson in how propaganda works. My kids are now so cynical, they point out examples to me.
Same here, especially after they read this:
Empire of IllusionThe End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
Chris HedgesJuly 2009 ISBN: 1568584377
What Federal Reserve Chairman Rudolph Shalom Von Bernankestein will not say...
The economy is now totally dependent on Federal deficit spending to the tune of 10% of the entire GDP--a cool $1.5 trillion a year, borrowed and blown--and on the Federal Reserve's creation of money to buy U.S. Treasury bonds.
Without the former, the tattered state of the real economy would be starkly revealed, and without the latter, the stupendous supply of new Federal debt might overwhelm demand, pushing rates higher.
Put very simply: the U.S. economy is now totally dependent on unlimited expansion of debt and credit creation by the Central State and its proxies. Withdraw those and the gap between the managed-perception economy (the propaganda facade) and the real economy vanishes: reality trumps perception.
Guest Post: The U.S. Economy Is About To Grow Explosively, Or Whatever | zero hedge http://bit.ly/epmppT
My name is Ben Bernake and I must tell you failure to rasie the debt ceiling and pay interest will result in higher rates and then you guys, the US, are fucked.
So if you dont pay us the interest NOW, we will raise rates and fuckin force you to default, and we will call in our forign partners/ banks to help liquidate US buildings/lands to pay us the fucking money you borrowed!
listening to this hearing brings into sharp focus the fact that Bernanke is quite unsure of what the scope of his policy may be. Ron Paul brings up structural issues that are not addressed by QE and Bernanke evades clear-cut solutions. Everything is temporary and all men shall be rendered equal one day.
but...I don't want to be equal I want to be Free
+1776
Mr. Bernanke, how will you remove this liquidity without causing a downturn?
Ben: I won't stop too soon.
Mr. Bernanke, are you concerned about causing inflation?
Ben: I won't stop too late.
Shalom....the alpha and the omega.
So zen kizz my azz. Not on zis side, not on zat side, but right in ze middle.
Bond market doesn't like the debt monetizing talk. Bernank is not saying much and seems annoyed to be there. I think he knows he has lost the long end as per ZH.
You say Shalom, and I say goodbye. Shalom, Shalom...
chuckle.
You say "mess," I say "no."
You say "why," and I say "I don't know."
"In addition, inflation is expected to persist below the levels that Federal Reserve policymakers have judged to be consistent over the longer term with our statutory mandate to foster maximum employment and price stability."
No further comment needed...
B's responses shaky at best. He is now stuttering. The ratio of "I don't know" responses to "this is our vision" is abysmal.
Mmmmm......
Did somebody already ask him what happens when the Fed raises interest rates?
Did somebody ask him why we need the Fed?
Did somebody ask him why we can't just screw things up without the Fed and not pay interest?
NOT DISTORTING THE BOND MARKET>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
IS HE FUCKIN" HIGH?
funniest thing he has said yet!
The policy is temporary, it's all good. We will return to regular programming.
Wait, he just said that it doesn't matter what currency oil is invoiced in... but I thought that was what keeps the dollar alive as the reserve currency.. I has a confuse.
Ben Bernanke is playing the game. His primary interlocutors are not you (or me) but the people sitting in front of him.
Those people are the very same people who have to make decisions for maintaining the tie between oil and USD.
Implicit message sent by Ben Bernanke to his primary audience who cant but have noticed this peculiar point since they are in charge of maintaining the USD oil tie.
Ben Bernanke will not die alone if he goes under.
surprise surprise he strongly recommends we raise the debt ceiling again and again so that the last blind investor on the planet doesn't lose confidence in our system!
THE DOLLAR IS LOOKING GOOD? HELLO? ANOTHER TWENTY BPS AND WE'RE GOING TO THE CELLAR?
THE LYING IS SO THICK YOU CAN'T SEE STRAIGHT....
THE DOLLAR IS LOOKING GOOD? HELLO? ANOTHER TWENTY BPS AND WE'RE GOING TO THE CELLAR?
THE LYING IS SO THICK YOU CAN'T SEE STRAIGHT....
I always get the feeling hes doing a mental eye roll when he talks to the ignorant apes in congress
i actually see a real physical eye roll a few times
What he wants to say is:
LISTEN, YOU IGNORANT LITTLE PISSANTS, WE CONTROL THIS SHIT, NOT YOU! NONE OF YOU CLUELESS PANDERING NARCISSISTIC TWATS HAVE A CLUE! NOW JUST LOB ME SOME SOFTBALLS SO THAT THE BANKERS CAN GET BACK TO RUNNING THE GAME, BITCHES.
"When a government is dependent upon bankers for money, they and not the leaders of the government control the situation, since the hand that gives is above the hand that takes... Money has no motherland; financiers are without patriotism and without decency; their sole object is gain." - Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815
"A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world. No longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."
Woodrow Wilson, 28th US President from The New Freedom (1916) lamenting his signing of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913
excellent quotes man!
WHAT'S CAUSING THE LACK OF LENDING?
GET READY FOR ANOTHER TORNADO OF LYING....
GOD FORBID WE MENTION THE TRILLIONS IN DERIVATIVES....
OR THE FACT THAT OUR BANKS ARE INSOLVENT.....
IRELAND - delaying injections into banks til after elections.
Did Ben actually remember to flush after taking his dump?
10 YEARS !!!!!!!!!!!........BEN REALY SCREWED UP THERE !!!.......DONT LET THEM SEE YOU SWEAT
He is mocking the panel and the people with his thinly veiled double meaning jargon. Sickening.
Yes; but look at the composition of the panel. F'ing dolts... almost every one of them
sure no inflation, but the contents of my packages each week are getting smaller and smaller
Ryan: What effect on foreign holders/emerging markets of US Dollar as reserve currency does your QE policies have?
Baa-Naaa-Nkeee: It's up to them to take measures to control the value of their currencies. (Translation: Not my f#$%^g problem.)
Ryan: As for when to take the punch bowl away...it's a lot like trying to pull out before it's too late, right?
Baaaah: But she's on the pill. And we have to create, ahem, save jobs.
Ryan: So, if an emerging market trades in 'marbles' and it's people rely on price indexes that include food and energy; like you don't think folks in the US use much of.....how do you advise they control their inflation that leads to riots?
Baaah: Don't go near the helicopter when I'm flying over......dropping more marbles. A bag of marbles can be quite heavy you know...not that more marbles in circulation leads to higher prices...naaaaaaahhh.
I would love if someone asked him the question: "In seeing the riots taking place around the world over rising food prices, how does it feel to have blood on your hands?"
Mr. Chairman: Mortgage rates are up over 1%, gas prices have soared, and food prices have increased...tell me how this helps the economy?
Lies, Damn Lies and Fed Statistic. After hearing this load of manure it is no longer "End the Fed," it must be try the fed for fraud, treason and crimes against humanity.
Listening to the misguided keynesian bivens cheered on by the ignorant clay
Mr. Beryanky..What are the odds that the US economy crashes and burns in the next 5 years?
Bernanke is looking like he's falling to pieces. He just stated China owns 25% of US debt, and said it was around $2 trillion....
What happens if the markets suddenly come to their sense and realize he has no confidence in what he's doing?
I got physically ill when he said that. We have a chairman of the central bank who does not know a basic number that shouuld influence his decisions. We may be f'd. I wonder what % he thinks the Fed owns?
Glad I wasn't alone.
The reality is, the Fed trying to save the insolvent banking industry, so is pulling a confidence trick that QE, POMO etc is not merely handing cash to the banks. The first rule of confidence tricks it to actually have confidence.
It makes me think of the comment from Michael Lewis' article...
“What happened was that everyone in Ireland had the idea that somewhere in Ireland there was a little wise old man who was in charge of the money, and this was the first time they’d ever seen this little man,” says McCarthy. “And then they saw him and said, Who the fuck was that??? Is that the fucking guy who is in charge of the money??? That’s when everyone panicked.”
Full Text here:
http://dawnwires.com/investment-news/ben-bernanke-speech-text-the-econom...
He actually said unemployment will take 5 years to solve while also stating that yields are great if they rise.