BEN BERNANKE 60 MINUTES DEC 5 2010

Fed Chairman Bernanke On The Economy

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke gives a rare interview to Scott Pelley in which he discusses pressing economic issues, including unemployment, the deficit and the Fed's controversial $600 billion U.S. Treasury Bill purchase.


He knows what is coming down the line: civil unrest. Pelley failed to ask some hard follow-up questions like, "So do you think Congress will extend unemployment benefits for 'a protracted period of time'?" Not one word about why they exclude food and energy prices from inflation calculations. "Some people think the $600 billion is a dangerous thing to try." That would include members of the Federal Reserve. "Panic of 2008"? Only panic was at Goldman Sachs - will I get my bonus? Sure!At this point there's nothing to save this house on cards economy. This system encourages people to act irresponsible, taking on huge risks to overconsume. When you over-consume you take your future consumption away, and here we are out of money buried in debt. It needs a national chapter 11 to liquidate the debt in the system before it can truly recover. A few QE tweaks here and there ain't gonna cut it.