Bernanke: Financial crisis taking toll on economy

[lib2DaBone]

http://finance.comcast.net/www/news.html?x=http://www.origin.comcast.akadns.net/data/news/2008/08/22/1041054.xml
(snip)
JACKSON, Wyo. - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday the financial crisis that has pounded the country _ coupled with higher inflation _ is taking a toll on the economy and poses a major challenge to Fed policymakers as they try to restore stability.

The current financial and economic environment is one of the most challenging to Fed policymakers "in memory," he acknowledged.

"Some particularly thorny issues are raised by the existence of financial institutions that may be perceived as `too big to fail' and the moral hazard issues that may arise when governments intervene in a financial crisis," he said.

Mitigating that problem is another challenge facing policy makers, he said.
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... Gotta hand it to 'ol Helicopter Ben.(File this under NSS-No Shit Sherlock) Here's a guy with his hands on the "Pulse of America". Well.. er.. I'm not so sure it's on the pulse.. but it's on something? Just sayin.. Nothin' gets by 'ol Ben. I wonder if his first clue was the 'for sale' signs on his street or the people lined up at the soup kitchen?

[Kutjara]

1. Yes, it is comforting to know our nation is in the hands of people with such a commanding grasp...

...of the completely fucking obvious.

Who knew that running the economy like a huge no-limits ponzi game for eight years would eventually cause it so seize up like an old engine? I guess that's the stuff they teach in big kid's school.

[On the Road]

2. I for One

am extremely glad to have pros like Bernanke and Paulsen in charge rather than the kind of loyalist hack like Larry Lindsey that Bush could easily have appointed. They have done a pretty good job of containing the huge mess that their predecessors and Bush largely created.