Quotes from Ben S. Bernanke

The decision would depend on economic developments, especially on the persistence of inflation.

The bad employment report and our new liquidity measures competed for markets' attention on Friday.

The buffer would ensure that banks built up their capital in good times, so that they could absorb losses and keep lending in bad times.

Foreign officials joined in the criticism.

a sign that investors weren't shunning the mortgage securities to the extent that they had been.

The company was so large and interconnected with the rest of the financial system that the ramifications of its failure would be massive, if hard to predict.

He has been very resistant" to capital injection,

Unlike most other countries, the United States had required its banks to meet a minimum leverage ratio before the crisis, albeit at a relatively low level.

I jokingly apologized for causing him so much trouble. He laughed and said that he wished we could have waited a week.

thereby supporting the flow of credit to households and businesses.

But that outcome looked more and more unlikely.

Some worried about appearing to overreact to what so far had been relatively modest market turmoil.

This is unusual but so are market conditions,

Paulson projected a restless energy that took me some time to get used to.

The reality that small changes in the phrasing of the FOMC's statement could have important effects on policy expectations sometimes led us to spend what seemed like an inordinate amount of time on the choice of a single word.

strongly recommend that we proceed with this plan.

As the panic worsened,

Still, given the circumstances and our rapidly shrinking options, it seemed the best solution.

without having to turn to their central bank.

our purchases would prove highly profitable for taxpayers.

Investors were unwilling to buy securities they knew little about.

Sometimes it is time to think the unthinkable,

Managing Wachovia consumed the weekend,

We hit it off well, notwithstanding the sharp differences in our backgrounds and personalities.