When someone tells the Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke CFA, Series 7 and 63, certified, that "the stock market has been hitting all time highs, it's recovered all of its losses from the financial crisis" and then proceeds to ask, even jokingly, during the Q&A of the most important monetary policy conference in the world, if he "still has time to get in," you know it has all become, quite literally, one big joke.
The joke gets even funnier when the abovementioned chief stock market strategist of the Fed responds: "we are not targeting asset prices", in direct refutation of his numerous prior statements which confirm the Fed is doing precisely this, and that he is not "measuring success in terms of the stock market" or that he does not see "anything that is out of line with historical patterns", then you know the joke's on you. Because this exchange, joke or not, is most comparable to this hypothetical one from 2007: "Mr Chairman, Bernie Madoff asset management is up 100% so far this year. Is there still time to get in?"
Fast forward to 29:48 in the clip below