Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, set aside his typical “fed speak” for a plain English conversation with the American people on CBS’s 60 Minutes. It’s been twenty years since a sitting chairman gave a television interview (Alan Greenspan in 1987). Bernanke expressed confidence about the long term outlook of the U.S economy and connected with Main Street Americans were are fed up with bailed out bankers and their multi-million dollar bonuses.
Some highlights:
“We’ll see the recession coming to an end probably this year and a recovery starting next year, and it will pick up steam over time.”
“I come from Main Street,” Bernanke said as he and the CBS crew walked the downtown of Dillon, South Carolina, where Bernanke grew up. “I’ve never been on Wall Street. And I care about Wall Street for one reason and one reason only-because what happens on Wall Street matters to Main Street.”
“It [the Federal Reserve] is an institution that people don’t hear so much about but it’s a very important one. It manages monetary policy for the country. It’s one of the main tools we have for stabilizing our economy and keeping prices stable.”
“The era of this high living is over now. They [bankers] need to be responsible and use the [bailout] money constructively. They must have a reasonable sense of humility.”
“I’d say, first of all, that the Federal Reserve is here, and it’s gonna do everything possible to support this recovery. The second thing I would say is that we have to understand, though, that recovery is not gonna happen until the financial markets and the banks are stabilized. And we do have a plan, we have a program for that. But it’s gonna take some patience. But the third and final thing I’d just like to say to the American People is that I have every confidence that this economy will recover, and recover in a strong and sustained way. The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have great universities. We have entrepreneurs. I just have every confidence that as we get through this crisis, that our economy will begin to grow again, and it will remain the most powerful and dynamic economy in the world.”