Stark contrast in responding to questions - Greenspan vs Bernanke

Water Cooler
#1

Stark contrast in responding to questions - Greenspan vs Bernanke

Questrion: Is an inverted yield curve a predictor of a future recession? ------------------------------------ Greenspan response: “History suggests that is usually or has been a forward indicator for softening economic activity … I suspect, however, that we have changed the structure of the flow of funds and the relationships among the various interest-rate tranches by maturity such that I’m not sure what such a configuration … would mean.” ------------------------------------ A year later Bernanke response: “The inverted yield curve is not signaling a slowdown.” ------------------------------------

#2

Bernanke’s answer is a paraphrase of Greenspan’s second sentence.

#3

Ron Paul’s recent book “End the Fed” includes chapters called something like “Conversations with Bernanke” and “Conversations with Greenspan”, where he presents some of the answers he was given in questioning the Fed chairmen in congressional hearings, and he seems to feel that Bernanke was especially evasive and not answering the questions he was asked.