Monday, July 27, 2009

Bernanke: This may be worse than Great Depression

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke discussed the economy with average Americans on Sunday, saying the current financial crisis could be even more virulent than the Great Depression.

"A lot of things happened, a lot came together, [and] created probably the worst financial crisis, certainly since the Great Depression and possibly even including the Great Depression," Bernanke said at the start of a town-hall meeting in Kansas City.

Bernanke defended the Fed's extraordinary moves, which have included slashing interest rates to zero, pumping billions of dollars to keep credit markets open, and buying Treasurys and mortgage debt to keep long-term interest rates low.

"I was not going to be the Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the second Great Depression," he said. (more)

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