Ben Bernanke

It is really a question of do we have the political will to do that, and demonstration of the political will, that is what the markets are watching.

We, the American people, the Congress needs to demonstrate a credible commitment to solving the long-term fiscal problems.

Absent any action, the debt-to-GDP ratio is going to be not only rising but rising at an increasing pace.

We do not want banks making bad loans. That is how we got in trouble in the first place.

It would be the better part of valor to take action now to make sure that we do not get too close to that point.

Monetary policy independence is very important for the stability of our economy and our financial markets.

I do think that an important priority for us as a country and for the Congress from a fiscal point of view is to think about what we can do to achieve better cost efficiency in the health care area at the same time that we do what we can…

We do have a plan, and like--I have tremendous respect for Chairman Volcker.

I do very much urge this committee to look for strong and credible actions to control the Federal debt.

We think the current mandate is workable.

We've only gotten about a million of them back so far. And that doesn't even account for the new people coming into the labor force.

It depends on the income from the property, not the collateral value.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says the Fed might take new action to give the economy a boost due to high unemployment.

I think it is very important for a lot of good reasons.

It is very important that they understand the services that they are receiving and what the terms of that service are.

I think it is important for all of us to work together to make sure that those gaps and emerging risks are identified.

We are certainly seeing movement in the right direction in our banking system.

The Dodd-Frank Act will help ensure that our financial system becomes safer, stronger and, just as in the past century, the world leader.

Remittances are an important contact point between many unbanked, particularly immigrant families and the financial system.

Yes, I think we have made a lot of progress.

We want to have market discipline. We want to lenders to, large firms to believe that they can fail and therefore to take due care to make sure that the firms they are lending to are not taking excessive risks.

I think it was a very important achievement.

I think it is moving in a very productive direction. It has strengthened capital, raised capital requirements, improved the quality of capital which is very important.

I know from a political point of view that American taxpayers do not want to be on the hook for these kinds of bailouts in the future.

A sharp near-term reduction in our fiscal deficit is probably neither practical, nor advisable.