Quotes from Ben S. Bernanke

We talked for hours. It was the start of a long and fruitful collaboration and friendship.

Congress opted for budget cuts and tax increases.

did a poor job of measuring and managing the risks they were taking on.

Hank must have been convincing, because Mudd and Syron didn't resist.

In retrospect I wonder whether I should have insisted earlier and more vigorously on persuading Congress to accept capital injections.

The president has substantial unilateral authority in trade, so political opposition may not prevent him from carrying through on some of his promises.

They were skeptical of my youth and inexperience, probably rightly so.

Guidance has less legal force than regulations,

we were concerned that a surprise cut might lead traders to believe we were even more worried than they had thought.

We also proposed limits on penalties imposed on borrowers who prepaid their mortgages.

Hank's lifetime of contacts in the financial services industry came in handy here.

Critically, we need to be more flexible in how we help people acquire job skills.

I submitted it to a publisher and received a kind, encouraging rejection letter.

Guidance has less legal force than regulations, but it still carries considerable weight with bank examiners.

By that point, of course, subprime lending had already virtually ended.

the reality is that globalization and international economic integration are too far advanced to be undone, except at very great cost.

but as chairman I was already looking at the meeting as something of a chore. I

Sheila, who became pricklier as events pushed her into taking steps further out of her comfort zone, has described the meeting as an "ambush.

It's not obvious, therefore, what officially declaring China to be a manipulator would accomplish.

I was acutely aware that any slip would be echoed and amplified, so I limited my participation to delivering my prepared remarks.

ANNA AND I spent the holidays in Washington, taking time off when we could.

And Sheila was indeed noncommittal. She

It seemed to me that the lack of credit after the collapse of the banking system had to have played a significant role in the slump as well.

The Treasury helped us solve this dilemma to some extent, by raising money in debt markets