Ben Bernanke Quotes
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The crisis in Europe has affected the U.S. economy by acting as a drag on our exports, weighing on business and consumer confidence, and pressuring U.S. financial markets and institutions.
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Low marginal tax rates are supportive of economic growth. I would submit that we would want to look very hard at government spending - make sure it's controlled - before we raise taxes, which, in turn, would have negative impacts on the economy.
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The policies and policy strategies established during the Greenspan years.
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The central bank needs to be able to make policy without short term political concerns.
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Over the past decade a combination of diverse forces has created a significant increase in the global supply of saving -- a global saving glut.
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Our mission as set forth by the Congress is a critical one.
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All the Federal Reserve can do is make loans against collateral.
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I think at this point in time that the inverted yield curve is not signaling a slowdown.
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People saw the Depression as a necessary thing - a chance to squeeze out the excesses, get back to Puritan morality. That just made things worse.
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The U.S. economy is in the midst of a strong and sustainable economic expansion.
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Let me end my talk by abusing slightly my status as an official representative of the Federal Reserve System. I would like to say to Milton and Anna: Regarding the Great Depression. You're right, we did it. We're very sorry. But thanks to you, we won't do it again.
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If you take a candy bar in the short run, it gives you a burst of energy, but after a while, it just makes you fat.
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Monetary policy has less room to maneuver when interest rates are close to zero, while expansionary fiscal policy is likely both more effective and less costly in terms of increased debt burden when interest rates are pinned at low levels.
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I came home from school one day, and there was a phone call for me. And I picked up the phone. They said, 'This is the Harvard Admissions Department. We'd like to let you know that you're accepted in the freshman class.' And I said, 'Come on, who is this really?`
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Certainly, 9 percent unemployment and very slow growth is not a good situation.
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According to government ethics rules and FOMC rules, it is permissible for a retired governor to speak in public about the economy, so long as he or she does not divulge confidential information. I have no indication that he has violated that rule.
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Consumers going through foreclosure typically will see their credit scores drop, raising longer-term questions about their ability to rebound financially and perhaps pursue a more sustainable home purchase at some later point.
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The basic prescription for preventing deflation is straightforward, at least in principle: Use monetary and fiscal policy as needed to support aggregate spending, in a manner as nearly consistent as possible with full utilization of economic resources and low and stable inflation. In other words, the best way to get out of trouble is not to get into it in the first place.
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Market discipline can only limit moral hazard to the extent that debt and equity holders believe that, in the event of distress, they will bear costs.
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There appears to be some possibility that the recent trend toward disinflation will continue, primarily because of the potentially large amount of economic slack in the system.
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I think that having good data, good statistics-and the United States generally has better macroeconomic statistics than most countries-and having good economists to interpret those data and present the policy alternatives, has a substantially beneficial effect on policymaking in the United States.
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Doing this well requires a deep knowledge of the data mixed with a goodly dose of economic theory and economic judgment, ... Greenspan is, of course, a master.
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The actions taken by central banks and other authorities to stabilize a panic in the short run can work against stability in the long run if investors and firms infer from those actions that they will never bear the full consequences of excessive risk-taking.
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The American people are among the most productive in the world. We have the best technologies. We have great universities. We have entrepreneurs.