Thursday, April 3, 2008

Bernake's comments

The Fed chairman has finally come of age, with his handling of the recent problems. In his testimony yesterday, he had this to say.

In separate comments, Mr. Bernanke went further than he had in the past, suggesting that the Fed would remain aggressive and vigilant to prevent a repetition of a collapse like that of Bear Stearns, though he said he saw no such problems on the horizon.

Then he said this about Bear Stearns:

Providing new details about the deal, which was arranged behind closed doors during the weekend of March 15, Mr. Bernanke said he and his colleagues at the Fed did not know until March 13 that Bear Stearns faced bankruptcy and that they quickly realized a failure to act would create a global crisis.

I guess that's when you say the situation is fluid.