By JON HILSENRATH
The Wall Street Journal
December 4, 2009
WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, in a Senate hearing that could sway a clamorous debate over the power of the central bank, admitted mistakes in managing the economy but declared that his actions helped save America from another Great Depression.
The hearing was to consider whether Mr. Bernanke should get a second four-year term as chairman of the Fed, but it was as much about the future of the institution as his role at the helm. The central bank steers the economy by setting short-term interest rates and providing emergency loans to banks.
The Fed’s standing has been wounded by the crisis in the financial system that it helped regulate and by the popular uproar against the bailouts it orchestrated. Mr. Bernanke argued Thursday, as he has for months, that his actions averted a far-worse crisis.
Senators countered the Fed shouldn’t have let the U.S. economy reach such a perilous point.
Continues at WSJ.
