Economy, Federal Reserve Chairman | featured news

Ben Bernanke presided over his first meeting as Federal Reserve chairman in March 2006 believing the nation's economy could pull off a "soft landing" from falling home prices. Three months later, Bernanke had begun to grasp that he and others had underestimated the risk housing posed to the economy....

Bernanke launched a new package of measures to support a limping economy and once again took the kind of unconventional approach that has become a trademark of his tumultuous tenure.

Despite the limping economy, Republican Congressional leadership urged the Federal Reserve chairman not to engage in further stimulus.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday the central bank has done all it can to get the U.S. economy back on track. Now it's time to simply wait for it to heal.

A deeply divided U.S. investigative panel issued a scathing critique of the culture of deregulation championed by Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, saying the government had ample power to avert the financial crisis of 2007-2009 and chose not to use it.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Friday that there's increasing evidence that a "self-sustaining" economic recovery is taking hold, but he said the Fed's $600 billion Treasury bond-buying program is still needed because it will take years for unemployment to drop to more normal levels.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday the economic recovery has weakened more than expected and the Fed stands ready to act if needed to spur slowing growth.

Stronger regulation should be the first line of defense against speculative bubbles that could send the economy into a new crisis, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Sunday.

The U.S. economy will grow more than expected in the third quarter, but unemployment also will continue to increase and will pass 10 percent, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday a government program intended to spark lending to consumers and businesses is still necessary even with other emergency lending programs winding down as the economy recovers.