CNBC: In his first regular news conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank was continuing its stimulus policy because it was projecting slower growth in the economy with only a modest uptick in inflation.
The Fed cut its growth estimate for 2011 to between 3.1 percent and 3.3 percent from a January forecast of 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent.
The Fed also raised its estimate of inflation this year to a range of 2.1 percent to 2.8 percent, taking into account a recent surge in oil prices. However, it bumped its core inflation forecasts only marginally to a 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent range.
As for unemployment, it lowered its forecast but said it would stay elevated over its three-year forecast period. For 2011, the Fed said it expects the unemployment rate to land in a 8.4-8.7 percent range, better than a range of 8.8-9.0 percent forecast in January. [MORE]So basically we can look forward to unemployment staying at these level and finally the Fed admits to what we have long known, inflation is here. Bernanke did not take responsibility for fueling inflation with Quantitative Easing (Q.E. 1 & 2).
Bernanke said the Fed would continue with bond buying (buying our own debt).
The statement marked the conclusion — at least for now — of the massive expansion of the Fed's balance sheet that helped pull the economy out of its deep recession.
"On policy, the statement confirms that (the bond buying) is over but otherwise leaves everything on the table subject to regular review 'in light of incoming information,'" said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Pierpont Securities.
Still, the central bank said it would continue to reinvest proceeds from maturing securities it holds to keep its economic support in place, ensuring it would remain a big buyer in debt markets.Search across the net and you will have to do some digging to find any real discussion on this matter, even though Bernanke's first press conference was getting a lot of attention days before. You can thanks the birthers and Trump for moving this story to the back pages. Too bad, because this is the real type of issue that will defeat Obama in 2012.
Below are videos from Bernanke's Q and A.
Via: The Blaze
Via: CNBC