S&P 500
7,401.00
+0.91%
Dow Jones
49,665.70
+0.19%
Nasdaq 100
29,241.00
+2.43%
Russell 2000
2,860.88
+0.82%
FTSE 100
10,263.70
+0.48%
Nikkei 225
63,767.70
+2.68%

Economy

Bernanke: Things Will Get Better, Or They Won’t

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

Invalid Image
Ben Bernanke told Congress that the recession may be over by the end of the year, at least as it is measured by GDP. Unemployment will be troubling for a longer period, perhaps well into next year.

Bernanke pointed to stabailization of housing, which is hardly a given, and an end to the liquidation of inventories. But, inventories will only begin to rise again if there is consumer and business spending to support it.

Bernanke’s hedge was simple. According to The Wall Street Journal, “A relapse in financial conditions would be a significant drag on economic activity and could cause the incipient recovery to stall,” Mr. Bernanke said.

What is a relapse in financial conditions? Lack of access to credit for consumer and businesses. It is not clear there is any improvement. Unemployment? Bernanke is assuming that the economy can improve even if well over 10% of the work force is unemployed.

The biggest problem the economy is up against may be that the consumer will not money even if he has it. He may have been frightened into a fox hole and has no plans to come out while he watches his neighbor lose his home and a relative lose his job.

Bernanke is looking at the economy from 30,000 feet and that is not the level where the recover will take root.

Douglas A. McIntyre

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Putting Bernanke On The Shelf For A Year

Ben Bernanke’s comments about the recession and his reasons for believing that the economy has hit bottom could have been…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Bernanke’s Trouble Forecasting The Future

“It now appears likely that real gross domestic product (GDP) will not grow much, if at all, over the first…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

The Recession Is Dead, Long Live The Recession

Professor Bernanke made it official by saying the recession is almost certainly over. He has to be conservative when he…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Bernanke Defends The Faith Against China

“Globally, both growth and trade are unbalanced. Because a strong expansion in the emerging-market economies will ultimately depend on a…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

Faced With Spectre Of 1974, Fed May Make Radical Cut

The Fed may cut more than expected. Wall St. is hoping for half a point, but three-quarters may be more…

Jon C. Ogg |

Bernanke and Yellen Taper Again: A New Chairman Is in Town

courtesy of the Federal ReserveThe January 29 FOMC meeting was the last meeting to be under Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke.…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

The Four Things That Destroyed The US Economy–SF Fed

John C. Williams the President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco gave a presentation in which…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

The US Prepares To Go “All In” To Save The Economy

There is still a place in the world of economists where the Tooth Fairy visits. It is where those who believe unemployment…

Douglas A. McIntyre |

The Fed: The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

The Fed indicated that growth in the economy was picking up, a little, and that it would extend its debt…

Top Gaining Stocks

Akamai
AKAM • Vol: 21,556,944
Micron Technology
MU • Vol: 65,135,624
Intel
INTC • Vol: 227,504,426
Monster Beverage
MNST • Vol: 15,284,847
Dell Technologies
DELL • Vol: 12,167,525

Top Losing Stocks

Mettler Toledo International
MTD • Vol: 539,266
Motorola Solutions
MSI • Vol: 3,101,643
Expedia
EXPE • Vol: 4,189,786
Coterra Energy
CTRA • Vol: 73,319,495
Fidelity National Information Services
FIS • Vol: 11,468,820