No transparency as Bernanke ‘lies to America’

Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke said that the US economic outlook was inherently uncertain, but he downplayed the odds of another recession.

Chief Economist Mike Norman of John Thomas Financial said he is beginning to see Bernanke as more of an impediment to the recovery than an aid.

“The Fed has already engineered rates down to historically low levels, and we’re seeing that this is not a recession that we’re in as a result of high interest rates that need to come down. I mean, rates are very very low now. We’re experiencing an acute shortage of demand and low interest rates, and it should be apparent to him by now, are not stimulating any demand to lift the economy back up,” said Norman.

He said he finds Bernanke’s statements on the economy astonishing, referring to his remarks on fiscal policy as a temporary solution; Norman argued that Bernanke has bought into an ideology that is a major obstacle to an economic rebound for the United States.
Bernanke has made it clear that he sees the economy turning around and recovering.

“If this is a recovery, Dina, this is a terrible recovery,” said Norman.

Norman explained that it the US economy was in a recovery phase we would have already seen measurable growth above the current 1.6 percent growth rate.

“The longer we sit back and sort of hope and pray that the economy somehow manages to pull itself up off the floor through some rebound, like Bernanke said you got to have a rebound in consumer spending and business investment, but the obvious question is; how are you going to get a rebound in consumer spending when you have a ten percent unemployment rate, something like 20 million people out of work or unemployed, it’s just not going to happen,” said Norman.

Norman argued that the current policies will not solve immediate problems and are going to devalue the dollar and reduce the American standard of living.

Bernanke knows the truth, argued Norman, but he is simply not telling it.

“He is being dishonest and disingenuous,” said Norman.