Ben Bernanke On '60 Minutes'

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Certainly some of what Benanke said was fine - like the entrepreneurial abilities of the American people. But two places he lost me. I will listen again to your video here, but this is where he lost me in two places:
1. He said he is not just printing money. Really? Well, let us start with the US adding debt at over $1.5 trillion a year. How was that paid for? The US had no money. The people holding US loans are too low in money to help so loans are not possible (China about %870 billion US and Japan second highest holder at about $840 billion), so that just leaves printing money to cover the deficit or perhaps selling off land or states? So if not "just printing money" how is the $1.5 trillion in new debt per year of Obama being covered?
2. He said that the fallout in the housing/mortgage recession was AIG, Lehman bros etcetera, but never ever spoke of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, both government controlled, who write many mortgages and rumor has it was told by some in Congress to take mortgages from poor people that would be risky.
With no good apparent answers on these two items, I will listen to the video again to see if I missed something. If not, I feel he was dancing and considers us the dumb public and he will only give so much info and perhaps make up what we want to hear, But I will listen again.

RNHunter of CA 11:09PM December 05, 2010

There is a book titled "The Creature from Jekyll Island" that sheds light on the history and practices of the Federal Reserve. Chapter 2 or 3 is called "The Name of the Game is Bailout" Find that book so you can see what is really going on.

Tim of IL 11:04PM March 23, 2009

FEderal..Reserve..chairman.....Ben..Bernanke.....appeared..on..the..Tv..show...and..admitted.....how...we..got..into..a..mortgage..crisis..and..economic..crisis......because..of..lack..of..regulation....AND.....i..hope..and..pray....the..USA..will..recover...soon...Thank YOU****

edward campagna of IN 5:40PM March 17, 2009

Gee, Bernanke doesn't say in the least just what the will has to address... political will do do what? Anything different from what we've been doing? Bush? Obama?
And if Bernanke does blaim the Fed for the 29 depression, well he has to put that in the Hoover administration, since Roosevelt changed that immediately. And still it hung on: The Fogotten Man by Shlaes blames Roosevelt for the long depression, not the Fed.
Finally, it is not greed, evil, or avarice, it is the basic emotional base of people's thinking: I am quite sure that the people that were making money felt grateful, happy, vindicated, etc etc etc... few people believed they were cheating or stealing or even being greedy.
People, you, me: we only see others as "greedy" and always ourselves as "fortunate and deserving. The purpose of regulation is to prevent good people, you and me, from venturing in too deeply, against our better judgment, but in we go. Always.
And back to the beginning: just what does Bernanke think we need to do, what is it that requires "political will"...
CBS totally missed the story. Why would Benanke be any less political that Greenspan? If he is, hurrah. But how does one telll?

gerald berke of NY 2:08PM March 17, 2009

If you do not fully understand who and what the Federal Reserve is, then please do not comment. It has nothing to do with someone's rant about global harmony.
Yes, greed did get us into this mess.
Do me a favor and research what the Federal Reserve is, who owns it, how many is printed and put into circulation, what backs this "federal reserve note" and then you will see that this mess is caused by them.
Down with the Federal Reserve- just freaking collapse!!!

Leigh of SC 12:06PM March 17, 2009

I like how most that have commented still don't understand a basic economic principle- that human beings are selfish, and that though we are selfish, we all end up being better. An example to consider may be to suppose why someone would invent a car and sell it if there wasn't any gain for both the buyer of that car and the seller? The seller gains monetarily, while the buyer now has the use of a vehicle. They are individuals, but somehow made a bargain that makes them both better off. This is a simple example, but a very important thing to understand. To say that being an individual is a bad thing is being short sighted, aside from considering that even if one tries to think of the whole world community when they make an action, they are also taking into consideration how their actions can benefit them, monetarily or otherwise. If one realizes how human beings work, they can better understand what compels them to do the things that they do.
The crisis could very easily be boiled down to being greedy. The problem isn't being greedy... it's allowing those who are being greedy to take upon them the cost of that greed. i.e. those who make a bet should win or lose by that bet.
Because large banks that were very involved in our economy made bets, they should bear the consequences of those bets. However, as this would endanger others throughout the economy (and create a lack of confidence in our financial system), the government has stepped in to "bail" them out. Regulators will seek to make such financial institutions small enough to fail, if such a crisis were to happen in the future. The Fed wasn't involved in making those bad loans, and it seeks to create financial stability so that people all over the nation can still get car loans, business loans, house loans, etc. If the people have confidence in the system and are willing to start buying, hiring people, and getting back to business then this economy will be whole once more.

Rollo Tamasi of IN 11:49AM March 17, 2009

Dear Producers of 60 Minutes and Mr. Pelley,
The lack of economic understanding by your staff is appalling. It was obvious that Mr. Pelley does not understand the history of money in America. Mr. Pelley, do you know what the term fiat money means? Do you know the history of fiat money in Weimar Germany, Yugoslavia and Zimbabwe. Do you know that another term for fiat money is a bill of credit. Do you know that the U.S. Constitution bans Bills of Credit. Do you know that Federal Reserve Notes are constantly losing value and creating inflation? Do you know that the Fed is not a publicly owned institution but is in fact privately owned? Do you know that the Fed was created by the very money trust it was supposed to be reforming. Have you heard of the Mandrake Mechanism? Do you understand that big banks and big government have a very cozy financial relationship that benefits them both at the expense of the American taxpayer. Do you understand what a money cartel is?
There are a few easy to read books you really need to grock:
Rothbard, Murry, What Has Government Done to Our Money. (© Mises Institute, 2nd Edition, 2005.) Rothbard was Distinquished Professor of Economics (1986-1995), University of Nevada
Griffin, G. Edward, The Creature from Jekyll Island, a Second Look at the Federal Reserve, (Boca Raton, FL, American Media; 4th edition, 2002)
There's a short online course you should study. It's called:
The Crash Course - by Chris Martenson Phd
http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse
You missed the opportunity of a lifetime to ask some really important questions of Mr. Bernanke? For example, if our current financial mess was created by too much money being created by the Greenspan Fed, then why is the solution to try the same thing, lower rates and create zillions of more fiat money.
Please educate yourselves.
Sincerely,
Steve Woods
Hyattsville MD

Steve Woods of MD 10:53AM March 17, 2009

Sadly, Pelly did not challenge Bernanke on a single question. Instead Pelly just listened to Bernanke, accepting the fact as gospel that Bernanke knows what he is doing. Well if Bernanke knows what he is doing why are we in this mess?
I would have hoped for something like "OK If you have a plan what exactly is it, and why does it seem to be changing day by day by the seat of your pants?"
The biggest risk in my opinion is we keep listening to Ben Bernanke, self-proclaimed expert on the great depression. Yes policy mistakes were made in the great depression, the biggest of which is arguably the Tariff which caused a collapse in trade. Blatantly illegal actions were undertaken as well, such as the confiscation of gold and the burning of produce attempting to force prices up. However, the root cause of the great depression was without a doubt the reckless expansion of credit that preceded it.
Nice fluff piece, when we really do need hard journalism done!

L Ralston of CA 11:58PM March 16, 2009

To find a solution to a problem it must be properly diagnosed. We are in a global economic meltdown. Money investments aren't the answer. We have seen how the bailouts equal to zero results and the money seems to evaporate. The economic systems will not stabilize until humanity changes the egoistic connections between one another. The cause of the economic crisis is humanity's egoism. Our old ways of dealing with problems such as these will not work. The world we live in now is a global and integral world. Everyday around the world we reveal how interconnected and interdependent all of humanity is. One global village. Like one family. Connected like the butterfly effect even. That's why we see that this crisis is different than any other we have seen, its global. Humanity's egoism has grown to a global level and is reaching its peak. Therefore it is being revealed to us all the interconnection and interdependency in humanity. A global crisis requires a global solution.
The law of nature shows us for a unit or a single body to function optimally it needs to operate in a altruistic fashion. This is when all parts work for the sake of the whole. The same way our physical bodies function to keep us healthy. Individual people are like cells in the body of humanity. Until we start to change our relations between one another from egoism (working only for self benefit) to altruism (working for the sake of others/society) we will continue to experience our imbalance with nature and the global crisis will worsen in many facets of our lives. This isn't utopia or loose theory. We are speaking of the laws of nature that we see all other parts of Nature operate by except in the connections between people. Once we decide to exit our selfish egoism for the sake of uniting and changing our relations to those of altruism we will see our social systems began to thrive again and excel our pictures of the past. Waiting on the government for answers is not going to help either. Even though they even say they sense the economic crisis stems from broken connections and mistrust, their egoistic modes of thinking will not let them see what's truly needed. People still do not understand that the root of the crisis is our incorrect, individualistic, egoistic behavior in a world that’s global, integral, unified and completely interdependent. It is we who must become equivalent to the world in which we live. Even a new economy will not work unless its aim is global and integral, in line with producing goods and services for the benefit of the whole world. The producer should only receive what’s necessary for him and give the rest to the common fund. Retraining people for jobs should incorporate reeducating people about life in a globalized world. Otherwise, people won’t understand the laws of Nature, and therefore, will not be able to succeed under the new conditions.The global crisis will end when each person will begin to think about everyone else instead of himself.

Trenell Ladd 6:03PM March 16, 2009