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LOL, what do you think Bush's tax cuts were? Remember the checks everyone got? Bernanke was the guy preaching that housing was stable and secure right up until the day it crashed.
That is ancient history. I'm talking about since 2010.
Bernanke was the guy preaching that housing was stable and secure right up until the day it crashed.
That was probably Paulson, Treasury Secretary.
Bernanke, at least in my interpretation of what he says (which is pretty cryptic), seemed to realize housing was a problem , he just felt the problem could be contained.
Bernanke, at least in my interpretation of what he says (which is pretty cryptic), seemed to realize housing was a problem , he just felt the problem could be contained.
I said he was cryptic for a reason: because traders around the world hang on his every word. Forbes' journalists don't parse fed language with the proper nuance needed to understand them.
^ Here is the transcript of what he said on that day.
Here is an excerpt of the only parts where he mentioned FAnnie, freddie, or GSE's :
Quote:
These steps to address liquidity pressures coupled with monetary easing seem to have been helpful in mitigating some market strains. During the second quarter, credit spreads generally narrowed, liquidity pressures ebbed, and a number of financial institutions raised new capital. However, as events in recent weeks have demonstrated, many financial markets and institutions remain under considerable stress, in part because the outlook for the economy, and thus for credit quality, remains uncertain. In recent days, investors became particularly concerned about the financial condition of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In view of this development, and given the importance of these firms to the mortgage market, the Treasury announced a legislative proposal to bolster their capital, access to liquidity, and regulatory oversight. As a supplement to the Treasury's existing authority to lend to the GSEs and as a bridge to the time when the Congress decides how to proceed on these matters, the Board of Governors authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, should that become necessary. Any lending would be collateralized by U.S. government and federal agency securities. In general, healthy economic growth depends on well-functioning financial markets. Consequently, helping the financial markets to return to more normal functioning will continue to be a top priority of the Federal Reserve.
So he's saying: They are fine "now", as of July 15 2008, but we've taken steps to back them up in the event things get worse. And that was accurate; they were fine at that time. And his decision to create a contingency plan in case they did fail, was an obvious statement that he believed them to be at risk in the near future. If he didn't think they were at risk, there would've been no reason to create a backstop.
I said he was cryptic for a reason: because traders around the world hang on his every word. Forbes' journalists don't parse fed language with the proper nuance needed to understand them.
There was nothing cryptic there.
Quote:
So he's saying: They are fine "now", as of July 15 2008, but we've taken steps to back them up in the event things get worse. And that was accurate; they were fine at that time. And his decision to create a contingency plan in case they did fail, was an obvious statement that he believed them to be at risk in the near future. If he didn't think they were at risk, there would've been no reason to create a backstop.
They weren't fine at the time. They hadn't been fine for a long time. The only reason they hadn't collapsed at that point was the banks were being protected while they got rid of as many bad investments as possible.
That was outright fraud which Bernanke played a role in.
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