Ben Bernanke, one of the top economists in the nation and chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, appeared for an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" this past sunday. After the government had just released reports of the unemployment rate raising to 9.8%, many viewers were tuning in to hear some good, possibly behind the scenes information to balanced out the previous news. These viewers were to be both excited yet dissapointed.
Bernanke told Scott Pelley of "60 Minutes" that he believes it could take anywhere up to four or five years to get the unemployment rate normal again. Bernanke began discussing, and most importantly defending, the recent $600 billion bonding bill, called QE2, in effort to get consumers and employers more proactive. While a lot of press have been saying a lot of things against QE2, like saying it will cause inflation, Bernanke says that not acting on this issue is a much greater risk than QE2. In addition, he does not see inflation as an issue.
It's good to see government officials going out and talking to the media and the public, but like all politicians, it seems scripted. The line "encourage consumers to buy and companies to create jobs" is a line I have heard all too often, and every time I hear it, it's value lessens for me. As far as QE2, it seems like almost another thing the government is doing to look more effective to the public, but if it is being defended by one of the nation's top economists, than I have a little more faith. Hopefully this is one of the last big spending bills the government will have to create to stimulate the economy.
No comments:
Post a Comment