Quotes from Ben S. Bernanke

it could be a life-changing event in removing the stigma.

Given the age differences, I didn't spend a lot of time with my siblings, except when pressed into service as a babysitter.

I was neither devotedly pro- nor anti-Keynesian.

When my turn came,

was coming to a similar conclusion.

when such improvements are not forthcoming, many people will be inclined to resist change if they can.

sometimes vacation together.

I said that best practices in monetary policy had evolved during the Greenspan years and would continue to evolve. But

And I appreciated the crucial role her agency played in the regulatory system.

Merging the SEC and CFTC was a political nonstarter because they were overseen by separate committees in Congress. The

with results that are not meaningfully better and are often worse.

Life is unpredictable," I told them, thinking of both my own career path and the economy and financial system's roller-coaster ride over the past seven and a half years. I also gave them a working definition of my chosen profession: "Economics is a highly sophisticated field of thought that is superb at explaining to policymakers precisely why the choices they made in the past were wrong. About the future, not so much.

It was close enough that I could sometimes walk home for lunch.

also said that my first priority would be to maintain continuity with Greenspan's policies.

Merging the SEC and CFTC was a political nonstarter because they were overseen by separate committees in Congress. The congressional oversight committees jealously guarded their turf because the market players regulated by the two agencies could be counted on to provide lucrative campaign contributions.

When circumstances required cooperation among the Fed, Treasury, and FDIC, it often fell to me to make the call to her, as it did this time.

But that was considered extraordinary.

As Hank moved from one issue to another, pressing for solutions or more analysis, I could see why he had been an effective CEO.

That's why I often said that monetary policy was not a panacea—we needed Congress to do its part. After

So what is to be done? There are no easy answers. We

had helped make the Depression as terrible as it was.

AGAIN I went through the vetting process, including even more extensive questioning by the FBI.

I emailed, thanking her for the prompt response. "Amazing what a little credit crisis can do to motivate,

I already was painfully aware that the Fed chairman's remarks can easily be misunderstood or overinterpreted.