Ben Bernanke's Speech Was... Disappointing

I am still surprised at the Fed Chair we have. Where is the Fed Chair who was willing to try to get ahead of the problems in late 2008? Or the "Helicopter Ben" of 2003? Or the student of big downturns in Japan in the 1990s and the U.S. in the 1930s.

It's a very different animal we have today. And this speech didn't do much to convince me that he is going to do what ought to be done.

Bernanke forecasts that growth next year "seems unlikely to be much above its longer-term trend"--that is, that unemployment is likely to rise in the near term and then stay essentially stable through the end of 2011 before it even starts to think about heading down.

In this environment, now is not the time for Bernanke to talk about the costs and risks of expanding the Federal Reserve balance sheet.

And it is also not the time to talk about how monetary policy can be carried out via the Federal Reserve's communications strategy.