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If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. If you want to understand the economy, study the Depression.

Ben Bernanke

Economics is a very difficult subject. I’ve compared it to trying to learn how to repair a car when the engine is running.
BEN BERNANKE

Car Running Trying
Indeed, in general, healthy investment returns cannot be sustained in a weak economy, and of course it is difficult to save for retirement or other goals without the income from a job.
BEN BERNANKE

Goal Job Retirement
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.
BEN BERNANKE

Fundamental Past Strong Years
One might as well try to perform brain surgery with a sledgehammer.
BEN BERNANKE

Brain might Trying
The risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so.
BEN BERNANKE

Months Past Risk
A gold standard doesn’t imply stability in the prices of the goods and services that people buy every day, it implies a stability in the price of gold itself.
BEN BERNANKE

Gold People Standard
I am confident that we will meet whatever challenges the future may bring.
BEN BERNANKE

Challenges Confident May Meet
I assure this committee that, if I am confirmed, I will be strictly independent of all political influences… essential to that institution’s ability to function effectively and achieve its mandated objectives.
BEN BERNANKE

Essentials Independent Political
The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.
BEN BERNANKE

Government Technology Wish
In the future, my communications with the public and with the markets will be entirely through regular and formal channels.
BEN BERNANKE

Communication Formal
I don’t fully understand movements in the gold price.
BEN BERNANKE

Gold Movement Price
Both humanity’s capacity to innovate and the incentives to innovate are greater today than at any other time in history.
BEN BERNANKE

Humanity Incentives Today
If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. If you want to understand the economy, study the Depression.
BEN BERNANKE

Depression Earthquake Want
I generally leave the details of fiscal programs to the Administration and Congress. That’s really their area of authority and responsibility, and I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to second guess.
BEN BERNANKE

Details Responsibility Thinking
The Federal Reserve is not currently forecasting a recession.
BEN BERNANKE

Federal Forecasting Recession Reserve
Economics is a highly sophisticated field of thought that is superb at explaining to policymakers precisely why the choices they made in the past were wrong. About the future, not so much.
BEN BERNANKE

Choices Fields Past

If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. If you want to understand the economy, study the Depression.

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If you want to understand geology, study earthquakes. If you want to understand the economy, study the Depression.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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