In a historic town-hall style meeting to be aired on PBS, Chairman Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve, laid out his case to maintain the Fed's independence. In it he stated he has "tremendous confidence" in the US economy and that "within a few years" it would be "growing strong." As such, he wanted to assure the public that the Fed does not want to "overstimulate" the economy. If the economy, however, does artificially inflate, the Fed would have all the "necessary tools" to combat excessive price increases. At this moment, however, it is too early to judge the impact of President Obama's fiscal stimulus package, the Bernanke said.
