In our last Post, just over a week ago - Tax Day to be exact, we focused on past statements made by Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, and recent utterances of his. We questioned whether his statements about the economy generally, and the housing(mortgage) market specifically, were posturing because of political considerations, as we had seen during and leading up to the general elections toward the end of 2008.
An academic first and foremost, many believed that Bernanke's move from the Ivory Towers of Academia to become Federal Reserve Chairman, enabled him to "experiment" with the theories he lectured about in the classroom. One school of thought is of the opinion that this, in effect, was a contributing factor to much of the economic downturn the country is experiencing today.
It appears that even with the economic stimulus plan - monies to the banks - monies to the auto industry, and to others - the expectations for a quick economic turn a round is not at this time clearly evident. Some liken the situation to a helmsman attempting to turn an aircraft carrier or supertanker - it will happen... but...it takes time.
As the economy is taking some time to turn around, more Americans than ever before, are loosing their jobs, which leads eventually to loosing their homes in foreclosure actions, which brings more homes into an already saturated housing market,further lowering home values contributing to greater losses of equity in homes nationwide impeding the progress of the economy's turn.
Faced with a soaring Budget Deficit,an overburdened Treasury,millions of lost jobs and counting since the start of the recession, what answers has Professor Bernanke for the nation.Some say the answer is, even lower rates - we shall see.
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