WASHINGTON (MNI) – The following is an excerpt from Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke’s semi-annual hearing Q&A session Wednesday for
the House Financial Services Committee:
BERNANKE: Our monetary policy actually generally increases asset
values, broadly speaking. The concern has been raised and I fully
understand it, that low interest rates penalize people who live off the
interest earnings of their investments of their savings. My response,
at least in part is if you are going to have good returns in savings and
investments overall we need a healthy economy. And if we raise interest
rates prematurely and cause the economy to go into recession, thats
not going to be a environment where people can make a good return on
their retirement funds or their other investments.
** MNI Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **
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