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As usual, the markets were hanging on every word of the Bernanke testimony to Congress today (Wednesday).
By now, everyone should know better.
In the years that U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been a member of the Fed - both as a member of the Board of Governors from 2002 to 2005, and in his two terms as chairman beginning in 2006 - he has been stupendously wrong time and time again.
Bernanke gave the markets what they wanted by hinting that his monetary easing policies won't change any time soon, pushing both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up more than 0.5% in midday trading.
But when members of Congress started asking the Fed chief questions about whether those policies might be inflating bubbles in stocks and other assets, we got Bernanke testimony like this:
"To this point our sense is that major asset prices like stock prices and corporate bond prices are not inconsistent with the fundamentals..... our sense is that those issues [the threat of market bubbles] are still relatively modest."
That Bernanke would dismiss such serious concerns is no surprise; he's done it many times before, and often with disastrous consequences.
And yet, just as with Alan Greenspan before him, Bernanke's every public utterance has the power to move markets. Utterly baffling.
7 Examples That Show Why You Can't Trust Any Bernanke Testimony
Today's Bernanke testimony is only the latest example of how poorly he seems to grasp the many complex forces that threaten the markets.
The following seven statements from Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's past show why no one should ever take anything he says seriously.
1. "We've never had a decline in house prices on a nationwide basis. So, what I think what is more likely is that house prices will slow, maybe stabilize, might slow consumption spending a bit. I don't think it's gonna drive the economy too far from its full employment path, though." (July 2005)
For the next two years, as the housing bubble continued to inflate, Bernanke repeatedly dismissed signs that a crisis was brewing.
About the Author
David Zeiler, Associate Editor for Money Morning at Money Map Press, has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including 18 spent at The Baltimore Sun. He has worked as a writer, editor, and page designer at different times in his career. He's interviewed a number of well-known personalities - ranging from punk rock icon Joey Ramone to Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak.
Over the course of his journalistic career, Dave has covered many diverse subjects. Since arriving at Money Morning in 2011, he has focused primarily on technology. He's an expert on both Apple and cryptocurrencies. He started writing about Apple for The Sun in the mid-1990s, and had an Apple blog on The Sun's web site from 2007-2009. Dave's been writing about Bitcoin since 2011 - long before most people had even heard of it. He even mined it for a short time.
Dave has a BA in English and Mass Communications from Loyola University Maryland.
where can we get copy of future dates ben bernanke will be speaking?
BEN BERNANKE KNOWS THE SCORE
Ben Bernanke, like so many of his U.S. BANKER peers, is an arrogant little twerp. He demonstrated his true nature during a televised hearing before the U.S. Senate last year. One Senator (from Vermont ?) asked him how many foreign banks received bailout money. He said I don't remember exactly, but quite a few. Next, the Senator asked Ben Bernanke if he would name a few foreign banks that received bailouts from Bernanke's FED. Ben Bernanke responded: "NO". He simply refused to answer the question (and in a snooty tone of voice). Why would he bother to answer a U.S. Senator ? Neither the people or their elected representatives can touch him, and his answer indicates he knows the score. Too bad most voters can't do the math.
Considering how high gold and silver precis have gone lately, and the increased demands for physical gold and silver, it appears like a significant number of people are seriously contemplating the idea of abandoning all currencies as their preferred store of value, and substituting with precious metals. What would the Fed do if this trend intensifies, and at some point some participants in international trade demand payment in gold or silver instead of dollars or other currency?
If you bought at 40 and seilnlg today well that's the breaks. Maybe you bought at 14 and think that now I should sell. Will you hold you precious metal the day you are dead? Other than those who are talking their books there is no technical reason for silver to be 50-100. Unbridled exuberance ran gold and silver to new highs. Now it is just a normal move back down. Don't look for 50 by the end of the year and don't look for gold at 1900 unless hyperinflation happens. Ben is doing what professors do. He is teaching what he knows. He is a moron and only knows how to manipulate interest rates and print money, but what else is he supposed to do?