Bernanke Says More Stimulus Required
January 13th, 2009 at 4:15 pm - by admin
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe or learn more about Politonomist.
Ben Bernanke, former Professor of Economics at Princeton and current Chairman of the Federal Reserve since Alan Greenspan’s removal in February 2006, warned legislators Tuesday that the current stimulus plan would not ensure a full recovery.
Bernanke’s speech in London at the London School of Economics said that the near $800 billion bailout and stimulus package being discussed by President-elect Barack Obama, as well as the $350 billion in tax cuts his package brings are unlikely to be sufficient to stimulate economic recovery.
“The Federal Reserve will do its part to promote economic recovery, but other policy measures will be needed as well, the incoming administration and the Congress are currently discussing a substantial fiscal package that, if enacted, could provide a significant boost to economic activity; in my view, however, fiscal actions are unlikely to promote a lasting recovery unless they are accompanied by strong measures to further stabilize and strengthen the financial system,” said Dr. Bernanke at the London School of Economics.
Bernanke was careful to reassure the public that despite the Fed’s funds rate being close to zero, a number of monetary measures and tools are still available to their disposal. David Wessel, the economics editor at the Wall Street Journal, says one way that the Fed may attempt to influence the economy by working on longer term interest rates, such as the 30-year T-bills. The Federal Reserve can also work on guaranteeing and insuring further assets, and providing private banks the opportunity to convert packaged assets and so-called Troubled Assets in to Federal Reserve-backed securities.
The Chairman of the Federal Reserve suggests providing more capital, a second wave of Troubled Asset Recovery funding for banks and financial institutions who find themselves in liquidity trouble. He also requested more access to capital for the Federal Reserve to directly make funds available to the financial industry without being required to induce higher levels of inflation caused by floating injections.
Regulators urged Congress today to finalize the release of the remainder ($350 billion) of the TARP money to further strengthen credit flows and prevent unnecessary contraction.
The Federal Reserve’s charter requires many of the facilities created under these “exigent” financial circumstances to be eliminated shortly after the recovery of credit conditions and the financial markets says Ben Bernanke in response to questions about an exit strategy.


