Bernanke is in a position much like Barney Fife. He is only carrying around one bullet for his gun. If he fires that bullet and it does not hit the mark, then Barney finds himself in the same situation as when Toto pulled the curtain to find no Wizard.
How does one make such a statement? Regardless of what is needed or not, a market crash continuing to spiral out of control destroys the retirement funds of millions of Americans. Now, you may argue that the crash is needed to wipe the system clean. You may even be right. But when these Americans lose their retirement funds (or see them evaporate before their eyes) then you better believe the government isn't going to sit idly by.
If he is going to make the emergency cut, it should happen tomorrow. Biggest drops worldwide since 911 bloomberg dot com is showing. Markets are cyclical like life and we are do for a correction. The previous cuts did squat. They can cut to zero if they want, that still doesn't change the fact that ppl. and banks more importantly can't qualify for new loans with much stricter standards. How has the free money in Japan worked for them?
Don't forget there's an election in November. Who's going to vote for GOP when his/her 401k got chopped in half?