Quotes from Ben S. Bernanke

while the effect of Treasury purchases would be more broad-based.)

that I couldn't blame the protesters for being dissatisfied.

do not persuade me to drop this option from the playbook altogether,

Did the government make a conscious decision to let Lehman fail, and, if so, why did it go on to save AIG?

To ensure widespread participation, including by stronger banks, we needed the nation's leading banks to take part.

I worried that the criticism would affect morale within the Fed, so I met with employees to make sure they had the information they needed to respond to questions from friends and neighbors.

I wanted to involve as many of my colleagues as possible, to get both useful advice and greater buy-in.

an area in which we had little or no expertise. And,

Still, the situation was far from normal.

Unlike AIG, which had sufficient collateral to back a large loan from the Fed, Lehman had neither a plausible plan to stabilize itself nor sufficient collateral to back a loan of the size needed to prevent its collapse.

opinion, we needed to get our side of the story out.

In the repo market, lenders were demanding more collateral for their loans, even when the collateral was of relatively high quality.

Lehman's condition was probably worse than reported at the time,

he was voting yes "with some reluctance.

The Committee approved the package unanimously.

they were growing reluctant to lend,

We were still months away from stability, but, together with the steps taken abroad, a coherent and powerful strategy was finally taking shape.

Fuld had been unable to attract major investors in months of trying,

I knew that these more specialized reporters were best equipped to understand and then explain what we were doing and why. Other media would pick up on their reporting.

work and help stave off deflation.

Not that these folks necessarily took what we told them at face value.

but that was hardly a fair comparison.

didn't seem wise.

The critics based their argument on the fact that lower interest rates tend to raise prices for assets such as stocks and houses.