» How it’s calculated: The misery index is the sum of the country’s inflation and unemployment rates — a pretty simple number to calculate. On the plus side, this number will slide at some point, because, due to the weak job market, inflation will likely decline next year, lowering the misery level. On the down side, that’s not the number everyone’s looking to fall.
Working the crowd: Bernanke told reporters that his decision to hold this first-ever event was part of his effort to increase transparency at the Federal Reserve. On the issues, though, Bernanke was less a revelatory messenger than that of a lot of news we sort of already knew — unemployment is high, inflation is a risk as always (though one he sought to downplay), the deficit is unsustainable, and the Fed will be broadly staying the course with its monetary policies. That said, we want to give him some credit. First, the Federal Reserve has been a very secretive organization throughout its life, and Bernanke’s effort in making himself more available is admirable. Second, that might be the best damn beard in all of central banking. source
Call it cause and side effect. The Federal Reserve, concerned about the slow domestic economic recovery, recently announced that they were going to shove $600 billion into circulation, a risky move that could help the economy recover – or put us on the way to Zimbabwe’s hyperinflation. (OK, maybe not that bad.) Anyway, in the wake of all of this, the international market has been freaking out, afraid that the world’s standard-bearer currency will lose value over time. Obama had to defend the Federal Reserve’s announcement in India today, and gold – which is already on a solid upswing of late – topped $1,400 an ounce today. source
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