Ya' just gotta love how the financial press just runs with whatever bullshit Bernanke spins. I've yet to see a single, MSM article that seeks to challenge Bernanke's claims and allegations on the "easing of the recession." It makes me sick to my stomach that these assholes are running the levers of taxpayer funded finance. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=arogi_UcR0PQ
Not to defend BB but economists do define "recovery" differently than our "reality", including faked and misinterpreted stats. However BB needs to avoid looking down while chasing Roadrunner over the cliff, lest cartoon reality suddenly catch up...
It's part of the mystique they have to keep up to maintain that it is beyond the ken of mortal men to understand - that is why decisions need to be made in secret. And the Jackson Hole type locations make it look very elitist. They can't be taken seriously having the same meeting in Holiday Inn, so only the best in luxury will do.
Bernanke is in "self denial".... This guy refuses to accept that his "Harvard" education has proven to be a waste of time....which means that he would have to accept that most of his time has been spent as "flawed time".... Summers is the same type of individual.... ........................................................................................... Summers was selling CDOS to foreign sovereign funds via DE Shaw "after" Bear Stearns had devastating losses.... ............................................................................................. The question should be ...."How to correct a flawed US system of checks and balances" pertaining to its internal economics....
They are going to declare the recession to be past when the GDP first ticks up above prior year's level. Last year at this time, things had come something of a "screeching halt" as credit froze up... you know, because the "too big to fail" banks had all of their assets tied up in toxic CDSs. Now with the government having given the banks money they're making fees, points and spreads on THAT money.... and not having to offset any earnings with write-downs for toxic assets thanks for the change in M2M accounting rules. Then, the government gives people with no assets, no jobs and poor credit... a discount to discard perfectly functional, fully paid-for cars... and entices them to take on more debt which they cannot afford. All so they can count car sales as "GDP"... and get that stat to "tick up"... so the Government can proclaim "look how we've stopped the recession"... "My oh my, what a good job we've done"... See how that works?
How to make a system that is more profitable for a person if they do thier job, more than if they have temptation to not do their job? Measure conflict of interest in a model?
........................................................................... And the tools to do it with.... 1) A 10/5 C tax only via state not Fed mandate.... eliminates lobbyist system eliminates IRS establishes unprecedented individual freedom jobs flock to US domicile 2) Internet elections...no $ needed in elections.... no more wins by soundbytes and 30 sec adds....via advertising budgets.... 3) Utility type public highway for all public securities tax free no private matching first come first served level transaction rates....ie 20 cents /100 all asset classes 4) Pay by merit with 5 year clawbacks