Ben Bernanke actually said...

We have rejected that approach and we are committed to not letting inflation go above sort of the normal level of around 2 percent in the me...

If you do not do that, it would have very negative effects on financial markets and on our economy.

We want to be sure that price stability is maintained, that inflation remains low and stable.

The recession was tied primarily to the financial crisis, which drove the economy into a deep recession.