Bernanke’s Bind: Ignore Inflation or Risk Killing the ‘Recovery’?

Title of this post needs to changed. There is no recovery.
It should read........"Bernanke's Bind: Ignore Inflation or Risk Killing the ARTIFICIAL Recovery".

Of course, it would never occur to these conceited egotistical fools running the country that they are the problem and not the cure.

This policy of easy money has enabled addiction and dependence on more of the same. To believe he'll cut his pals off from their supply and stop being the candyman is hilarious!
Don't expect an intervention and time soon. There is no plan B................

How can one person-Bernanke controls the financial fate of 300 million US citizens? He destroyed the saver by keeping interest rate at near 0 and destropyed average American by printing money and jack up inflation. He only helped Wall street and bankers!

Get Rid of Ben and the Cronies. They are destroying the Free Market to pad their own pockets.
Throw the crooks in jail.

It's the printing of new hot fresh dollars by the Fed that is driving inflation. If I can get ton of money at 0% from the Fed I will buy land, and oil, sugar, timber, copper, gold etc. Soon the dollar will not worth the paper it's printed on.

Get rid of Ben.

Low interest rates are good for Wall Street. Low rates and a weak dollar are not good for America. We see who the FED is looking out for. They are looking out for Wall Street at th expense of America. They are selling us out. This is legalized counterfeiting by a bunch of Academics looking out for Wall Street, not Main Street.

More like risk Obama's presidency. Only way to increase markets is to inflate away. Recovering wall street gives the people a false sense of economic recovery.

A reply to Gadawg's comment:

Food and energy costs most certainly CAN be managed by the Fed. There is speculation built into the price of oil, to be sure, but for God's sake, don't you think the devaluing of the dollar.....the PURPOSEFUL devaluing of the dollar.....might have just as much, if not more, to do with higher oil prices and higher food prices than speculation?

Just as an example on the oil side, look at the US dollar versus the Canadian dollar. Two years ago, you could get $1.28 Canadian for a US dollar. When I wrote this response, you can get $0.9545 Canadian for one US dollar. Just assume that Canada wants to get $100 Canadian for a barrel of oil. Two years ago, that would have cost the US $78.12. Today, if Canada wants that same $100 for a barrel of oil, it costs the US $104.76, a 34% increase for US consumers for a product that Canada is selling for the same amount of its currency.

Tell me again how Fed policy doesn't have anything to do with controlling (or causing) inflation in oil and food.

So whats up with current events?
Lets go back to just 2003. Since that time the purchasing power of the dollar has gone down nearly 25 percent.
Well what does that actually mean? It means that if you has $10,000 cash sitting in your drawer you would now need $12,500 to buy an item that cost $10,000 in 2003.
In 2003 the DJIA was 9000, today it is 12,500, a difference of 25 percent.
So what does this mean? It means in monetary terms a zero sum gain due to the fall of the dollar.
In 2003 an ounce of silver was $5.00, today it is touching on the $50.00 mark, a gain of 500 percent, (5 to 10 is 100pct., 5 to 20 is 200pct., 5 to 40 is 400pct., 5 to 50 is 500pct).
In 2003 an ounce of gold was $250.00, today is is just over $1,500.00, also multiple hundreds of percent gains.
In 2003 crude oil was $30.00 a barrel, today it is $112.00, again multiple hundreds of percent gains. The same is true for corn, wheat, and cotton as well.
So the "rally" in the stock market is an illusion, in monetary terms a net zero sum gain while the cost of commodities which include food and energy are skyrocketing-Literally.
The International Monetary fund said that the Chinese economy will overtake the US in 4 years, Standard and Poors just changed its economic outlook on the US economy to negative-This is historic, they are also threatening to downgrade US debt within 1-2 years.
With each passing day those who do not have a hedge against the falling dollar are getting poorer.
The dollar is near historic lows and the only way to strenghten the dollar is for the Fed. to raise interest rates, however, they cant raise interest rates because then the interest on the debt which not only includes the 14.3 trillion NATIONAL debt, but another over 100 trillion in unfunded liabilities from medicaid, medicare, as well as other social programs would not be able to be paid. The Fed. has to keep the interest rates artificially low in order for the US to service its debt.
The only reason there has not already been a major financial collapse is because the Fed's quantitative easing policy, that is the Fed. is simply printing money out of thin air backed by nothing and is purchasing US treasury bonds with that printed money. This is what keeps our economy going, if the government doesn't sell bonds/debt our way of life changes dramitacally.
The Chinese as well as Japan, (especially since the earthquake, and nuclear disaster) and India who are the 3 largest buyers of US debt are no longer buying, in fact they are selling debt.
The US is insolvent and the world is beginning to realize it. That is why precious metals and commodities have gone parabolic, a trend which will not stop anytime soon.
All fiat currency, (a currency which is not backed up by real assets, gold for example), seeks it true intrinsic value till it achieves it, that value is ZERO.
Throughout world history every economy financed with fiat currency has collapsed, every one.
With every dollar the Fed prints it devalues every current dollar in circulation, that is why we are seeing the dollar plummet, another trend which will not end anytime soon. And again why? Because 1., The Fed. cannot raise interest rates and 2., Because they keep printing more dollars. If the Fed. keeps weakening the dollar what happens? The stock market keeps going up in relation to the dollar value, so a zero sum gain is achieved and two, commodity prices keep rising exponentially.
There is no way to avoid a total economic meltdown, a critical mass has been achieved.

At some point inflation is going to kill the recovery might as well start pushing up the dollar, raising interest rates so savers can earn some money, the hell with the housing market that ain't doing anything even with the lowest rates in history, and get commodities down in price by pushing up the dollar do those things and the economy will go forward continue to pander to big business the end of the recovery and another recession with not much fire power from the fed to hold up things

Wow, so many people don't get it.... Bernanke is not ignoring inflation, he is intentionally creating it. As a student of the great depression he has failed the lesson, as he is just repeating history.

These economists need to put the crack pipe down and not just slowly step away, run away!

True story. Now that I pay more for food and gas, I am cutting back. I am driving less. I am not eating out. I am opening windows instead of using the AC. I am not going out and consuming. I am planting my own vegetable garden.

Point of all this? Higher prices will take the economy, not make it better. Cheap money causes imbalances and then crashes. This is a case where the medicine the FED is prescribing is worse than the disease.

Bernanke does not see this as a bind at all. He believes printing money and zero interest is the cure to all economic ills and he is conducting a dangerous experiment with the biggest economy in the world to try to vindicate his theories. Meanwhile he says little about the country's soaring debt and liabilities, giving Obama the tacit permission to continue his spending spree unrestrained and Congress the license to continue business as usual. Bernanke will continue to pour more stimulative fuel on the fire until inflation and interest rates go out of control. Then he will finally be replaced and go quietly back to some cushy academic professorship but the rest of us will be paying the price for decades to come.

Bernanke is a criminal A$$hole. He does not have any solution. SOB is saving bankers by screwing the retired people dependent on fixed income and denying the rampant inflation.

You flaming idiot Bernanke....Quit giving away our money. Someone needs to stop this clown.

Anyone who thinks he can print his way out of the slump is fool.

What Big Ben tried to do is to start paying the nation debt by inflation. The higher cost of items purchased bring more tax dollars to pay the investors. That part is working for them. Problem is it is destroying everything else around it. Face it, the compounded interest through the last decade has put the dollar at a zero worth, We are seeing the effects of this. We now have the Bric starting. China, Brazil, India, Russia, are now trading among themselves in their own currency. The dollar is on the way out as the world currency. The S&P is down grading the U.S. credit. Banks in other countries are refusing deposits in U.S. dollars. Remember the Fed's and our government will not be telling you the truth about what is really underway. This is going to be the worst decade of your life. History shows exactly what path we are on. Britain was in the same situation we are now. Everything they tried, we are doing. It did not work. We are not special.
The banking industry is made up of the Federal Reserve. The only entity that is allowed to print money and put a number in a ledger at no cost to them. But yet allowed to charge you interest plus the principle in the form of taxes at will. Yes you are correct in thinking that this is a plot. During these bailouts for the banks. It was determined that the too big to fail policy was unacceptable by our elected officials. Because of the outcries of the public. Banks are countering this by closing or taking over the small ones. This does in fact make them bigger and stronger . This once useless paper does not become nothing until it is loaned and something is purchased. At that time it is then guaranteed by you from your sweat and labor. In the same instance this property can be taken from you and would allow this paper that purchased an item to become a asset of the bank just from the number just written in the ledger.
The Nation debt as of today you owe 45751.77 dollars. Even if you are born today. Over 45 percent of all citizens have less then 3000.00 in cash available. Now we have States like IL. . Just for pension obligations alone cost each person 6600.00 dollars each year. 42000.00 dollars per household. Can someone explain this to me? I just do not know how this can ever be repaid. As wages decrease and inflation continues. All that this means is the people have less to pay them. So they must raise more taxes in order to meet their obligations. The truth be told, our government or the Federal Reserve does not care about the people in this county. We are bankrupt by the greed of the select few, face it!

For the millions of Americans who have saved for decades and now get zero percent on their savings while gas and food are at double digit increases and social security recipients get zero % increase I say raise interest rates. Spending well over a trillion on foreign aid / wars while Americans go unemployed .... time for Mr Bernanke and the Brain Trust on the Potomac to get real. Foreign aid needs to go to ZERO , subsides to Oil Companies need to go to Zero, corporations that ship jobs overseas then shelter profits should be taxed until they start bringing jobs back home. Want a laugh ? Notice CEO's never ship their jobs off shore !