Bernanke’s Forgotten Footnote

http://www.nysun.com/editorials/bernankes-forgotten-footnote/87588/

As the markets settle down after the big move by the central banks to stabilize the situation in respect of Europe, we find ourselves thinking of the speech the Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke gave at the National Press Club on November 21, 2002,* when he was but a governor and not yet chairman. The speech, entitled, “Deflation: Making Sure ‘It’ Doesn’t Happen Here,” offered an explanation of how the Fed would operate, hypothetically, once it had already brought its main monetary policy tool, the Fed Funds rate, to zero.

* The value of the dollar on that day, incidentally, was a 317.65^th of an ounce of gold, according to the Kitco historical gold chart; the greenback’s value has since plunged to below a 1,740^th of an ounce of gold.