Bernanke: "We have lost control. We cannot stabilize the dollar."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-wed_oilsep17,0,4833605.story

Economist recounts talk with Fed chairman

By Joshua Boak | Chicago Tribune reporter

September 17, 2008

NAPLES, Fla. — Several months ago, economist David Hale had a private meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who was trying to ward off a recession by lowering interest rates and increasing the money supply in the economy.

The problem with that approach is that the value of the dollar plunged against foreign currencies, causing crude oil prices to skyrocket because oil is pegged to the dollar. It affected food prices, gasoline and family budgets.

"Ben, you are playing a very unique role in world economic history," Hale recalled telling Bernanke, an expert in the Great Depression. "You are the first central bank governor of the United States to preside over a recession with no decline in commodity prices."

Bernanke could hypothetically limit inflation in commodities by raising interest rates, a policy that would restrict the flow of money but potentially lead to an avalanche of bank failures. At a financial conference in Florida on Tuesday, Hale, a Chicago-based economist for investment managers, hedge funds and multinational companies, paraphrased the Fed chairman's response.

"We have lost control," said Hale, quoting Bernanke. "We cannot stabilize the dollar. We cannot control commodity prices."

I was just being an alarmist. This is sobering and so very frightening.

Grow our own food and make stuff like soap and clothes that will be way too expensive.

If we can keep our jobs, it will take most of our check to keep a roof over our head and enough gas in the tank to make it to work.

getting the hell out...

We get the "news" after it's too late to help.

I've read where people were basically wall papering their houses with currency...:scared:

hyperinflation comes to mind

:scared:

was and is THEIR game plan, and they are FULLY RESPONSIBLE for what's happening now.

think. It's beyond anyone's control.

god damn them to hell for letting this happen.

unscathed. There are many of us very few of them.It is possible to find them,we as a population could do it.The People should take back what they have stolen..and make them suffer and pay.It will not happen unless justice is served by The People since the systems are rigged to serve the rich,these rich thugs have skirted justice enough.

denying any responsibility and blaming it all on Democrats.

The "their" in your statement shouldn't refer to 'Pugs alone, it needs to refer to all of the corporately controlled politicians that contributed to this mess. Deregulation has been a bipartisan affair, given the fact that Democrats signed on board in both houses of Congress, and Clinton signed the law that destroyed Glas-Steagal, along with advancing the agenda of deregulation in the financial sector.

This is simply another sign of our two party/same corporate master system of government at work.

...and have been very busily throwing their pixie dust around for Bush**. So much so that they're now all out.

It's the "Enron loophole" that allows electronic market perversion - particularly derivatives - with no regulation. Thank you, Phil and Wendy Gramm.

People almost seem to have no memory of this event. Businesses closed when they couldn't pay their electric bills. There was some widespread suffering while the Enron boys were high-fiving and sticking it to Grand Ma Millie.

How could people EVER believe that people with no souls, no ethics, no moral compass, no limits to their greed could POSSIBLY self-regulate.

Next stop, Great Depression II. Welcome to unregulated "capitalism" again. Institutionalized thievery has consequences. But not for the thieves.

:yoiks:

Shit shit shit, is it January 20th yet?

:scared:

The dollar started strengthening a bit, but now it is weakening again (vs. the Pound).

""While every other country is practicing natural resource nationalism, this country still pretends there is a free market in energy when, in fact, there is not," said John Hofmeister, the head of Citizens for Affordable Energy and the former president of Shell Oil Co."

scam ever pulled on humanity is falling apart. Maybe we can get along without dollars if we can learn to socialize,and not be so damn atomized.Learn to share part of what we have so all have enough instead of fearing losing it all all the time.Give up the American nightmare.And find a better way to live.We can do it without some "leader" full of shit telling us what to do, you know.Money economies are recent scams if you think in terms of how long humanity has been around.
History and reality both show the failure this insane 'civilized' top down money and greed driven economy,"way of life" has become to those willing to look at what is happening right before their own eyes.The snakes in suits sold us lies and bought our freedoms away from us for nothing. Money is PAPER.Some is only as real as ones and zeros on a screen in a virtual world that doesn't even exist. It is not food or heat or a useful skill. Because we played away our lives for tokens of paper we forgot how to survive without a token system.Our world is contaminated,we don't know how to relate to each other that well anymore,we fail too much to participate in our own communities.Many don't care are petty and narcissistic.And because of money we expect others to do it for us,and even act as if they were our best buddy if we pay them enough dollars we think we are OWED something.Are Americans ready to risk for once,to live their own lives like they want to live it? or will they cling to the way they have been told to think they want to live for fear of the unknowns of life in chaos that will come whether they want it to or not..

We can be learning to barter, to share,to 'gift' and to share skills with each other. We can learn to do with less stuff and more time to get to know life again..We can re-learn to live without buying,selling or profit.

and you keep your house because who would you pay?

Gold? Foreign currencies? Land? Those who have sold their stock portfolios are surely putting their money somewhere. Are they even investing it in the United States or is their money going somewhere else?