NY Fed's John Williams on the U.S. economy

[The U.S. economy is in a] very, very good place.

~ John Williams, New York Fed president, "New York Fed's Williams Sees Economy in 'Very, Very Good Place'," The New York Times, February 14, 2020

Atlanta Fed president: U.S. economy "envy of the world" (2001)

In the long term, the moderation of growth that we'll witness in 2001 will be a mostly healthy thing.  It will help the economy avoid some serious imbalances that might otherwise have begun to accumulate, and it will help ensure that growth remains sustainable.

~ Jack Guynn, Atlanta Federal Reserve President, "U.S. slowdown dubbed 'healthy'," Investors Business Daily, January 9, 2001

(Guynn called the U.S. economy "the envy of the world.")

Randall Kroszner on continued dovish Fed policy

Until we see sustainable job growth the punch bowl is not going to be taken away.

~ Randall S. Kroszner, former Federal Reserve governor, as appeared on CNBC, April 10, 2013

Frederic S. Mishkin: "Bernanke helped save the world from depression"

My view is Chairman Bernanke helped save the world from depression. Whether you agree with every policy he’s pursued or some of the ways the bailouts were done, the outcome here, given the severity of the shock, is a good one. But that’s hard to explain to the American public when we’re sitting with 10 percent unemployment.

~ Frederic S. Mishkin, a former member of the Fed’s board of governors, economist at Columbia University, and close friend of Mr. Bernanke, "Bernanke’s Bid for a Second Term at the Fed Hits Resistance," The New York Times, January 22, 2010, by Sewell Chan and David Herszenhorn

Robert Heller on Fed intervention

The stock market is certainly not too big for the Fed to handle.

~ Robert Heller, Former Federal Reserve Governor, The Wall Street Journal, October 27, 1989

Frederic Mishkin: Housing market "bottoming out" (2007)

We do see some stabilization of demand in the housing market ... there is some indication that the market could be bottoming out.

~ Frederic Mishkin, Federal Reserve Governor, Reuters, April 20, 2007

(Quote provided by Kevin Depew, "Five Things You Need to Know: Housing Slump Well Contained; Well Contained to Existing Home Sales; Well Contained to Largest Cement Producer in U.S.; Well Contained to Spain; Well Contained to Auto Sales," Minyanville, April 24, 2007)

Ben Bernanke: "The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press"

[T]he U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost... [U]nder a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.

~ Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve governor, from a speech before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002

Ben Bernanke on avoiding deflation at all costs

The Congress has given the Fed the responsibility of preserving price stability (among other objectives), which most definitely implies avoiding deflation as well as inflation. I am confident that the Fed would take whatever means necessary to prevent significant deflation in the United States and, moreover, that the U.S. central bank, in cooperation with other parts of the government as needed, has sufficient policy instruments to ensure that any deflation that might occur would be both mild and brief.

Like gold, U.S. dollars have value only to the extent that they are strictly limited in supply. But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.

A more direct method, which I personally prefer, would be for the Fed to begin announcing explicit ceilings for yields on longer-maturity Treasury debt (say, bonds maturing within the next two years). The Fed could enforce these interest-rate ceilings by committing to make unlimited purchases of securities up to two years from maturity at prices consistent with the targeted yields. If this program were successful, not only would yields on medium-term Treasury securities fall, but (because of links operating through expectations of future interest rates) yields on longer-term public and private debt (such as mortgages) would likely fall as well.

~ Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve governor, from a speech before the National Economists Club, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002