Full Text: Ben Bernanke Testimony on Economy and Federal Budget, March 3
Filed under: Banking, Ben Bernanke, Recession, U.S. Congress, U.S. Economy, U.S. Financial Crisis
(Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)
As Prepared for Delivery
Chairman Conrad, Senator Gregg, and members of the Committee, I am pleased to be here today to offer my views on current economic and financial conditions, the federal budget, and related issues.
Recent Financial and Economic Developments and the Policy Responses
Over the past 18 months, the global economy has experienced a period of extraordinary turbulence. The collapse of a global credit boom, triggered by the end of housing booms in the United States and other countries and the associated problems in mortgage markets, has led to a deterioration of asset values and credit conditions and taken a heavy toll on business and consumer confidence.
Obama Administration Should Get Kudos for Orszag’s Budget Blog
The White House gets this right on:
To a lot of people, the budget can seem dry or wonky, and a lot of time it doesn’t get the attention that other major legislation does. But the truth is that as heavy on numbers and figures as it is, it’s a profoundly moral document, it’s a blueprint for the nation’s priorities.
There’s been some criticism here about the way both the Bush and the Obama Administrations have dealt with the banks and financial services industry that brought this mess of an economy down around all of us. But this post is about unadulterated praise, it’s about change you can believe in.
In President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress the other night when he said:
Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget. That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. For seven years, we have been a nation at war. No longer will we hide its price.
And now, with Office of Management and Budget Director using blogging as a tool to speak plainly and without legislative language about our nation’s budget, transparency at the federal level gets another lift.
Any government’s budget is too often thought to be a dry, ponderous document. Perhaps that’s why they are written and presented in the ways that they are — the government is trying to lull you to sleep before you figure out what you’re really reading. The Obama Administration’s view of the budget as a “moral document” a “blueprint for change,” is a sea change. These people are beginning to recast the way government does its business in accordance with their core philosophies – the philosophies and principles we voted for. In this case, we actually seem to be getting what a politician promised.
