Bernanke: Fed wrestles with size of aid program

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.

Thomas Jefferson, (Attributed)
3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)

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G. Edward Griffin: Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke says he wants to increase inflation! – to help the economy, of course. The Fed already has pumped $1.7 trillion into the money supply and plans to add between $100 billion and $500 billion more. Meanwhile, the value of the Dollar continues to fall.
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By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to rejuvenate the economy by buying Treasury bonds but is wrestling with how big the program should be, Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday.

Bernanke also indicated that Fed policymakers are trying to craft a plan to lift inflation from super-low levels. He made his remarks in a speech at a Fed conference in Boston.

Bernanke said the Fed must both weigh the risks of a Treasury-buying program and determine how the debt purchases should be paced. The Fed's bond purchases would be intended to lower long-term interest rates to stimulate buying and spending and help lower unemployment.

Those Treasury purchases would inject many more dollars into the financial system. And that poses a longer-term risk: High inflation.

Fed policymakers are widely expected to announce a Treasury-buying program at their next meeting Nov. 2-3.

"There would appear — all else being equal — to be a case for further action," Bernanke said.

World stocks rose after Bernanke's remarks. But the prospect of more dollars swirling around the financial system did nothing to help the dollar itself, which slid further after the Fed chief spoke.

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