Bernanke

O RLY?

The Fed chairman spent a large portion of the speech trying to calm market fears about inflation.

He said the latest data show that inflation “should moderate” assuming that commodity prices stabilize and inflation expectations remain stable.

But Bernanke stressed the Fed was on alert for signs that inflation may flare up.

“Most FOMC members see the recent increase in inflation as transitory and expect inflation to remain subdued in the medium term,” he said.

“Should that forecast prove wrong, however, and particularly if signs were to emerge that inflation was becoming more broadly based or that longer-term inflation expectations were becoming less well anchored, the FOMC would respond as necessary,” he said.

Just as I find it difficult to believe that the U.S. really frequently behaves like a totalitarian state, I find it hard to believe that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is an incompetent jerkwad, and yet last time he had a presser I'm almost sure he was still insisting that there wasn't any inflation to moderate.