“Every effort needs to be made to try and offset the costs of Katrina and Rita by reductions in other government programs, especially those that are wasteful, duplicative and ineffective.”

The amount of currency in circulation is not changing. The money supply is not changing in any significant way.

If Wall Street crashes, does Main Street follow? Not necessarily.

In fact, the world needs more nerds.

Although low inflation is generally good, inflation that is too low can pose risks to the economy – especially when the economy is struggling.

The benefit of appointing a hawkish central banker is the increased inflation-fighting credibility that such an appointment brings.

If I am confirmed, I am confident that my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee and I will maintain the focus on long-term price stability as monetary policy’s greatest contribution to general economic prosperity and maximum employment.

If you are asking me if I would advocate that the Chinese go to greater flexibility in their exchange rate, I certainly would.

I don’t fully understand movements in the gold price.

Under a cold turkey strategy, at each policy meeting the Federal Open Market Committee would make its best guess about where it ultimately wants the funds rate to be and would move to that rate in a single step.

A collapse in U.S. stock prices certainly would cause a lot of white knuckles on Wall Street. But what effect would it have on the broader U.S. economy? If Wall Street crashes, does Main Street follow? Not necessarily.

…the Federal Reserve has the capacity to operate in domestic money markets to maintain interest rates at a level consistent with our economic goals

How much would you pay to avoid a second Depression?

It’s true that the Federal Reserve faces a lot of political pressure and is unpopular in many circles.

House prices have risen by nearly 25 percent over the past two years. Although speculative activity has increased in some areas, at a national level these price increases largely reflect strong economic fundamentals.

Nobody really understands gold prices and I don’t pretend to understand them either.

The Fed is totally open.