Masters of the World

``Notwithstanding the progress that has been made, when the Fed's monetary policymaking committee - the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) - met this week to review the economic situation, we could hardly be satisfied. The Federal Reserve's objectives - its dual mandate, set by Congress - are to promote a high level of employment and low, stable inflation. Unfortunately, the job market remains quite weak; the national unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent, a large number of people can find only part-time work, and a substantial fraction of the unemployed have been out of work six months or longer. The heavy costs of unemployment include intense strains on family finances, more foreclosures and the loss of job skills.''

 WP

Mr. Bernanke  talks as if he steers the world, while myself, a lowly mortal, just suffer the consquences of the high unemployment rate in the US. Supposedly the steps he took with his buddies this week will fix the world.


Oh, well.


From the same Washington Post opinion piece by Ben Bernanke:


``Today, most measures of underlying inflation are running somewhat below 2 percent, or a bit lower than the rate most Fed policymakers see as being most consistent with healthy economic growth in the long run. Although low inflation is generally good, inflation that is too low can pose risks to the economy - especially when the economy is struggling. In the most extreme case, very low inflation can morph into deflation (falling prices and wages), which can contribute to long periods of economic stagnation.''


Mr. Krugman has been saying this since day one, through his NYT opinion column, and has not been in the Obama council of advisors.


So it goes.


A hundred billion dollars here, a hundred billion dollars there, what's the difference.


Read the WP.

It ends thus:

``The Federal Reserve cannot solve all the economy's problems on its own. That will take time and the combined efforts of many parties, including the central bank, Congress, the administration, regulators and the private sector. But the Federal Reserve has a particular obligation to help promote increased employment and sustain price stability. Steps taken this week should help us fulfill that obligation.

The writer is chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.''