Bernanke Passes The Buck On "Contained" Student Debt

He said what?

2007 - "The subprime mess is grave but largely contained [2]"

 

2013 - "The amount of US Student Debt is large, but not particularly likely to cause macro-economic instability."

Oh yeah, nothing to worry about here [3] at all (or here [4] or here [5] or here [6]).

and while that is the big one, we thought a few other recent comments were worryingly similar in their over-confidnce of the Fed's omnipotence:

Then - "it's fair to say that house prices are supported by the fundamental strength of the economy... "

 

Now - No obvious bubbles as "Asset prices are supported by the fundamental strength of the economy..."

 

 

Then - "I don't buy your premise, we've never had a nationwide decline in house prices..."

 

Now - "I would respectfully disagree that inflation measures underestimate the true rate of price increases..."

 

 

Then - "confident that bank regulators will pay close attention to the froth in certain areas..."

 

Now - "Froth" in high-yield, we are "monitoring" closely; and "sustained low rates can prompt 'reach for yield'", but "we are mointoring closely"