but reserve chairman the central planner in chief ben bernanke you trotted to the hill today to give another one of his economic outlook speeches as traders of course listen carefully for any news that might give them an edge on their daily speculations hoping to make a quick buck a quick buck it seems is all that americans can hope to make these days with interest rates suppressed at near zero for almost four years now forcing more and more hardworking people to speculate on riskier assets if they would like any sort of return on their money at all now for those who are less inclined to spin the roulette wheel there is always the comfort of your mattress which guarantees a return of at least some of your money whatever is not confiscated through what mr bernanke isso euphemistically calls quantitative easing we call it counterfeiting more confrontational folks may refer to it as outright theft some that officials though most notably fed gov janet yellen says there may be more ahead they've been hinting that the central bank may ease yellin in a recent speech to the boston economic c

federal reserve chairman the central planner in chief ben bernanke you trotted to the hill today to give another one of his economic outlook speeches as traders of course listen carefully for any news that might give them an edge on their daily speculations hoping to make a quick buck a quick buck it seems is all that americans can hope to make these days with interest rates suppressed at near zero for almost four years now forcing more and more hardworking people to speculate on riskier assets if they would like any sort of return on their money at all now for those who are less inclined to spin the roulette wheel there is always the comfort of your mattress which guarantees a return of at least some of your money whatever is not confiscated through what mr bernanke isso euphemistically calls quantitative easing we call it counterfeiting more confrontational folks may refer to it as outright theft some but officials though most notably fed gov janet yellen says there may be more ahead they've been hinting that the central bank may ease yellin in a recent speech to the boston economic cl

but reserve chairman the central planner in chief ben bernanke trotted to the hill today to give another one of his economic outlook speeches as traders of course listen carefully for any news that might give them an edge on their daily speculations hoping to make a quick buck a quick buck it seems is all that americans can hope to make these days with interest rates suppressed at near zero for almost four years now forcing more and more hardworking people to speculate on riskier assets if they would like any sort of return on their money at all now for those who are less inclined to spin the roulette wheel there is always the comfort of your mattress which guarantees a return of at least some of your money whatever is not confiscated through what mr bernanke is so euphemistically calls quantitative easing we call it counterfeiting more confrontational folks may refer to it as outright theft some beneficials though most notably fed gov janet yellen says there may be more ahead they've been hinting that the central bank may ease yellin in a recent speech to the boston economic club advoca

federal reserve chairman the central planner in chief ben bernanke trotted to the hill today to give another one of his economic outlook speeches as traders of course listen carefully for any news that might give them an edge on their daily speculations hoping to make a quick buck a quick buck it seems is all that americans can hope to make these days with interest rates suppressed at near zero for almost four years now forcing more and more hardworking people to speculate on riskier assets if they would like any sort of return on their money at all now for those who are less inclined to spin the roulette wheel there is always the comfort of your mattress which guarantees a return of at least some of your money whatever is not confiscated through what mr bernanke is so euphemistically calls quantitative easing we call it counterfeiting more confrontational folks may refer to it as outright theft some but officials though most notably fed gov janet yellen says there may be more ahead they've been hinting that the central bank may ease yellin in a recent speech to the boston economic c

history will judge whether ben bernanke will be. the new president will want his own appointee at the fed. and i don't believe that ben bernanke will stick around. that's a very tough job and he's due for a vacation. >> is he to blame, guys? is there any blame? >> romney is on the record saying he wouldn't support bernanke staying on the job, partly for the consumption of the republican campaign where bashing ben bernanke was the number one job of the gop presidential candidate and he had to come out and say ben bernanke's fault? no, i don't think so. he's sort of used the traditional tools and the tool box of the fed to keep interest rates very low and tried to stimulate the economy, you know, with what measures he had available to him and the open market's committee and they continue to do that. the next thing is do they act to have the quantitative easing to keep rates low in an extended period of time. it's hard for me to think about laying the blame for our crisis and subsequent low and painful recession for ben bernanke and th

i don't believe that ben bernanke will want to stick around. that is a very tough job and he is due for a vacation. >> is there blame? >> romney is on the record saying that he wouldn't support his staying on the job. >> it was pretty much the number one job of the gop candidate. >> i mean, he has used the tools to keep the rates low and stimulate the economy with the measures he had available to him. and the markets continue to do that. and now the question is do they act to start a new round in an attempt to keep rates low for an extebded period of time. it is hard for me to consider the depefeat of ben bernanke. >> this is going to be fun. >> it was a good try. he tried to inflate the stock market and real estate market. >> that you would lose money if you kept your money in a cd or savings account. and both efforts would fail. >> the markets would have more downside and we have seen the stock market give back it's gains since the beginning of the year. >> that is not ben bernanke's fault. it was up until we had the latest round of concerns.

ben bernanke, that is. >> does that mean extending the tax cuts? >>> my controversial interview with bill clinton about tax cuts, private equity and why the white house wasn't happy about it. >>> secrets to a successful start-up. my conversation with the founder of luxury e-tailor, guilt group. >>> and what went right? the "wall street journal" begins right now. >>> here's look at what's making news as we head into a new week on wall street. we're ready but we're not doing anything yet. that was the word from federal reserve chairman ben bernanke this week testifying before a congressional committee. he said if the economy needs help, if europe worse rns, the fed is prepared to step in and europe is still a concern. >> the situation in europe poses significant risks to the u.s. financial system and economy and must be monitors closely. as always, the federal reserve remains prepared to take action as needed to protect the u.s. financial system in an economy in the event of financial stresses escalate. >> the fed chairman's testimony helped cool off

beranke of today listen to the ben bernanke of yesterday." and while it might seem like an academic argument or aer in day game of clue, the question of what's gotten into ben is literally the single, most pressing question in the entire political economy right now. a president can't do very much without them. so bernanke is, for the next six months, if only game in town. not only because he wants mitt rom nerks y reelected, although let's be clear he was appointed to the fed by bush, but rather because he's under tremendous pressure of the ttea party fede reserve not to do anything. remember this? >> if this guy prints more money between now and the election, i don't know what you all would do to him in iowa. we would treat him pretty ugly down in texas. >> yeah, well, bernanke faces angry questions from bright wingers before congress, democrats exhibited no pressure. >>> it's prolonged unemployment and poverty for millions. not to mention the premature end. so until he answers the question of whether he's trying to get mitt rom nerks y elec

and the eye on the show which takes a look at whether ben bernanke you can sort out america's finances. welcome to the ilona show while you get the real headlines with none of the mersey were coming live out of washington d.c. my name is christine and i'm filling in for a loan while she's on assignment she's at the net roots nation conference in rhode island and i will take a closer look at our economy and our financial check up with lauren lyster and break down the big day the big man ben bernanke himself on capitol hill testifying on the state of the economy we'll talk about whether what he says will make a difference and take a look at the prospects of greater supervision for the big banks today m.f. global and j.p. morgan teach us a lesson and who make sure it won't be just more of the fox guarding the hen house then the occupy wall street movement maybe one that's leaderless but one of the more involved prominent participants is running for congress we'll speak to him on our show about his campaign and about where the occupy movement is now we'll have all of that and more for you

ben bernanke, he said it an hour ago, you'll hear it next, stay with us. olaf's pizza palace gets the most rewards >>> well it's all about bernanke today, but it's a big deal when the shift away from the latest move to another topic about ben bernanke. >> yeah, i'm surprised he answered the question. this is what we talked about when they allow tax cuts to expire. spending would go down simultaneously, here is what he said. >> as we move forward in the year, we do anticipate that the association with the fiscal cliff will have economic effects. we hard anecdotes about firms that might contractors that we're not sure about whether they are in place coming in january. more generally at this magnitude, and i think it will be a negative. >> i'm surprised he answered it. >> i don't think congress is going to do anything about it until after the election. you think -- you think they have to do something or there will be a massive market selloff, there is no way they're going to deal with the fiscal cliff after november to december. everything is expureeing in de

that's how ben bernanke describes economic growth these days. it's not the kind of forecast that raises alarm bells, but with unemployment still high, it may also not be enough to put more people back to work. here's what's worrying bernanke. if, in the worst of the recession, fearful employers fired too many people, they may have hired most of those workers back by now. so, with hiring slowing, the economy will need an extra jolt to really get more people back to work again. >> so that is the essential decision, the central question we have to look at-- will there be enough growth going forward to make material progress in the unemployment rate? >> reporter: but with interest rates already so low, fed skeptics think the central bank is out of options. bernanke disagrees. he says the fed is confident it can ease interest rates even further, though he didn't say exactly how that might be done. one thing the fed chairman almost pleaded for is help. help from congress in taking on some of the economic burden, or help in not messing things up more.

but ben bernanke i mean in testimony he says that that they're ready to act if need be right finally someone is saying that we need to pay attention to what's going on in europe but how much more can the fed really do right if interest rates are already at zero meaning is another round of quantitative easing really going to do more than perhaps provide or you know a really temporary boost to the markets well i think the kind of fun davies saying that they've done has had a big impact but there's a lot that you can do and it has to do with influencing expectations of the future and try to make a clear statement that he wants to see an economy with more demand and if that produces a little bit of inflation if you have millions of unemployed people go get jobs and start commuting to work and start moving out from their parents' basements you know gasoline prices will go up rents will go up and the federal reserve need to say that they're ok with that that that's a healthy sign for covering the economy and that will help give a boost to investment in real estate to investment in expanded

on a me all this plus the fed chairman ben bernanke you spend most of his days testifying on capitol hill in front of the congress joint economic committee and what he says is being watched very closely by whole bunch of have heavy hitters but what does it all mean well let's get started on our financial checkup. all right and here to discuss this is lauren lester hopes host of the capital account on our t.v. lauren let's talk about this testifying on capitol hill today by ben bernanke you a lot of people watching this pretty closely a lot of people watching this closely christine because what investors are speculators traders politicians savers want to know is is the fed going to do more are they going to stimulate more is more q e three coming so that's what everybody's looking towards the fed has a meeting later this month where they may or may not act but everybody's trying to read the tea leaves ben bernanke you on the hill today saying that they do have tools and they can't rule anything out but he's not giving any hints about what they're going to do but recently we've seen so

on a me all this plus fed chairman ben bernanke you spend most of his days testifying on capitol hill in front of the congress joint economic committee and what he says is being watched very closely by whole bunch of have heavy hitters but what does it all mean well let's get started on our financial checkup. all right and here to discuss this is lauren lester hopes host of the capital account on our t.v. lauren let's talk about this testifying on capitol hill today by ben bernanke you a lot of people watching this pretty closely a lot of people watching this closely christine because what investors are speculators traders politicians savers want to know is is the fed going to do more are they going to stimulate more is more q e three coming so that's what everybody is looking towards the fed has a meeting later this month where they may or may not act but everybody's trying to read the tea leaves ben bernanke you on the hill today saying that they do have tools and they can't rule anything out but he's not giving any hints about what they're going to do but recently we've seen some r

but ben bernanke testimony he says that that they're ready to act if need be right finally someone is saying that we need to pay attention to what's going on in europe but i want to work in the fed really do it right if interest rates are already at zero is another round of quantitative easing really going to do more than perhaps provide or you know a really temporary boost to the markets well i think the kind of quantitative easing that they've done has had a big impact but there's a lot that you can do and it has to do with influencing expectations of the future and try to make a clear statement that he wants to see economy with more demand and if that produces a little bit of inflation if you have millions of unemployed people go get jobs and start commuting to work and start moving out from their parents' basements you know gasoline prices will go up rents will go up and the federal reserve needs to say that they're ok with that that that's a healthy sign of covering the economy and that will help give a boost to investment in real estate to investment in expanded production and r

anyway, up next on "kudlow," let's go to ben bernanke. he says all the options are on the table when it comes to the u.s. economy, but the message from congress today was loud and clear -- less is more. take a listen. >> i wish you would take a third round off the table. i wish you would look the market in the eye and say, the fed has done all it can, perhaps too much. i wish you'd look at this president in congress in the eye and say, it is time to do your job. >> all right. well, the man who helped bernanke's feet to the fire, that's the vice chairman of the joint economic committee kevin brady joins me, next up. [ woman ] for the london olympic games, our town had a "brilliant" idea. support team usa and show our olympic spirit right in our own backyard. so we combined our citi thankyou points to make it happen. tom chipped in 10,000 points. karen kicked in 20,000. and by pooling more thankyou points from folks all over town, we were able to watch team usa... [ cheering ] in true london fashion. [ male announcer ] now citi thankyou vis

but ben bernanke i mean in testimony he says that that they're ready to act if need be right finally someone is saying that we need to pay attention to what's going on in europe but how much more can the fed really do right if interest rates are already at zero meaning is another round of quantitative easing really going to do more than perhaps provide or you know a really temporary boost to the markets well i think the kind of fun davies saying that they've done has had a big impact but there's a lot that you can do and it has to do with influencing expectations of the future and try to make a clear statement that he wants to see an economy with more demand in it and if that produces a little bit of inflation if you have millions of unemployed people go get jobs and start commuting to work and start moving out from their parents' basements you know gasoline prices will go up rents will go up and the federal reserve needs to say that they're ok with that but that's a healthy sign of covering the economy and that will help give a boost to to investment. real estate to investment in ex

but ben bernanke i mean in testimony he says that that they're ready to act if need be right finally someone to say do we need to pay attention to what's going on in europe but how much more can the fed really do right if interest rates are already at zero meaning is another round of quantitative easing really going to do more than perhaps provide or you know a really temporary boost to the markets well i think the kind of fun davies saying that they've done has had a big impact but there's a lot that you can do and it has to do with influencing expectations of the future and try to make a clear statement that he wants to see an economy with more demand and if that produces a little bit of inflation if you have millions of unemployed people go get jobs and start commuting to work and start moving out from their parents' basements you know gasoline prices will go up rents will go up and the federal reserve need to say that they're ok with that that that's a healthy sign for covering the economy and that will help give a boost to investment to eat. real estate to investment in expanded

the drug, ben bernanke's money. and it's time tonight for an intervention. >>> and at the 11th hour, president obama jumps head over heels into the fast and furious controversy. hours later, the attorney general of the united states, one step closer to being held in contempt of congress. >>> and later, they say they were just protecting their daughter. so why are they being charged with murder today? does it add up? let's go "outfront." >>> good evening. i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, america's drug addiction. it's not cocaine. it's not heroin. it's not even bath salts. we're addicted to ben. we want more ben and we want him now. but tonight, the truth. there's not enough ben for america. more ben is bad. i'm talking, of course, about this ben, fed chair ben bernanke. today he announced he'll continue so-called operation twist. the goal is to bring down interest rates. theoretically that would spark borrowing, spending and hiring. it would be a panacea to fix the whole problem. but even ben admits his supply

but ben bernanke i mean in testimony he says that that they're ready to act if need be right finally someone is saying that we need to pay attention to what's going on in europe but i want to work in the fed really do it right if interest rates are already at zero is another round of quantitative easing really going to do more than perhaps provide or you know a really temporary boost to the markets well i think that kind of fun davies and that they've done has had a big impact but there's a lot that you can do and it has to do with influencing expectations of the future and try to make a clear statement that he wants to see an economy with more demand and if that produces a little bit of inflation if you have millions of unemployed people go get jobs and start commuting to work and start moving out from their parents' basements you know gasoline prices will go up rents will go up and the federal reserve need to say that they're ok with that that that's a healthy sign for covering the economy and that will help give a boost to to investment. real estate to investment in expanded produ

-- ben bernanke today? guest: i would like to hear whether he is going to -- if they think the economy is so weak that they are going to start changing bonds in order to affect the money supply out there. i think those are very important issues that we need to know. congress has not been able to rein in the economy. host: discussions amongst the fed about whether it is a step in, what are the facts? guest: i like to wrap time. -- rock climb. i think about this the way i think about rappelling. it if we want to get down to the bottom of the mountain, what happens is that you start a person down and you on top are helping them. they risk a little bit. they figure out the lay of the land. you just do not put a person on the road and then say okay here you go. someone might get hit. the congress and the fed itself -- we have different roles but the part of -- part of it is how to ease a person down to get them where they want to be rather than just throw them off a cliff. you have to work as a team to try to, w

ben bernanke telling americans what could be in store for the economy and he says there is one thing he is most concerned about, and erin burnett is standing by with thoughts coming up next. emily's just starting out... and on a budget. like a ramen noodle- every-night budget. she thought allstate car insurance was out of her reach. until she heard about the value plan. see how much you could save with allstate. are you in good hands?

lauren let's talk about this testifying on capitol hill today by ben bernanke a lot of people watching this pretty closely a lot of people watching this closely christine because what investors are speculators traders politicians savers want to know is is the fed going to do more are they going to stimulate more is more q e three coming so that's what everybody is looking towards the fed has a meeting later this month where they may or may not act but everybody's trying to read the tea leaves ben bernanke on the hill today saying that they do have tools and they can't rule anything out but he's not giving any hints about what they're going to do but recently we've seen some regional fed presidents and i said governor janet yellen hinting that they would be on board for more easing which should raise concerns for people that think that this is a solution because what we've seen with this is a lot of. unintended consequences without the benefit to the real economy that this was supposed to produce and that advocates of it are looking for it to produce it just has not produced the results

and to get his take, ben bernanke t. in the european sector and with a wait and see take on the economy. >> and with jpmorgan, did the fed totally miss it again? the risk that is being taken? we'll get his take on the fiscal cliff, all of the things that we've been talking about with so many of our guests. >> paul volcker feels that jpmorgan is too big to manage and that's the problem. coming up, if you're just joining us, the bulls would have liked more from bernanke but at least it got a promise to act again if and when the economy gets worse. that seemed to be enough. >> what else do they want from bernanke? >> if we close where we are right now, the dow would have the best three-day win streak going back to last november. it also helped to have china and their central bank cut their rates overnight by a quarter percent, showinging that they are looking for growth in their economy as well. the dow up 108 points. it's been meandering and the s&p 500 index is also higher with a gain of 7.75 points. a good day for the bu

that is ben bernanke at phone-number at the fed. what ever. jamie dimon who is the president of jpmorgan chase has been working out sins the financial crisis. the light be harder than ever--if people did what he did they would not have lost their money and then he wants $3 billion in a single trade. you don't know what you are doing anyway. this is the thing. he should be on the board of the new york fed. it is not going to solve everything but what it does is a little point, five thousand cuts. you take those moments, take down the power structures standing in a way of good progressive policy and taken down one by one systematically and when you have big opportunities you would rather big opportunities you set yourself up to take that victory. >> this question -- [talking over each other] >> and have jamie dimon resign from the fed. thank you. >> use that number. >> 202 -- we will write it down the first time. it is important. 202-452-2995. a goes to his office and you call an think he should get rid of jamie dimon. and do it for the next sev

on to me all this plus the fed chairman ben bernanke you spend much of his days testifying on capitol hill in front of the congress joint economic committee and what he says is being watched very closely by whole bunch of have heavy hitters but what does it all mean well let's get started on our financial checkup. all right and here to discuss this is lauren let certain hopes the host of the capital account on our t.v. laura let's talk about this testifying on capitol hill today by ben bernanke you a lot of people watching this pretty closely a lot of people watching this closely christine because what investors are speculators traders politicians savers want to know is is the fed going to do more are they going to stimulate more is more q e three coming so that's what everybody's looking towards the fed has a meeting later this month where they may or may not act but everybody's trying to read the tea leaves ben bernanke you on the hill today saying that they do have tools and they can't rule anything out but he's not giving any hints about what they're going to do but recently we've

of course we'll be watching ben bernanke tomorrow. it's going to be crucial testimony to see whether this economy is in recession or not right now. >>> outfront next, a huge story in the election involving unions that could have implications for every state. and it happened hundreds and hundreds of miles away from wisconsin. >>> and later, the facebook debacle at the nasdaq and how much it will cost. >>> and later, we've got new video in the case of the man accused of murdering a student, obliterating his body and sending the parts through the mail. cific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. do you really think brushing is enough to keep it clean? while brushing misses germs in 75% of your mouth, listerine® cleans virtually your entir

we'll hear from ben bernanke just a little later this morning. look at how the mood as evolved across the globe. global 300 has been pretty quiet, although we've seen gain it is in the last hour, 90 minutes or so. we're now up about 0.4% on the day. and a closer look at the bourses across the continent, ftse 100 up about half a percent, xetra dax same, cac 40 another half percent there. eye bek the oibe ibex, 1.#%. pretty stron 3. >> the past three days greens on our stage from the ibex. nice for a change.. >> the past three days greens on our stage from the ibex. nice for a change. >> the past three days greens on our stage from the ibex. nice for a change. let's talk about sectors. a little more red creeping in. still relatively flattish trade to the down side. utilities lower by half a percent. banks leading the way hire bygh 1.3%. household goods trading up by just shy of 1%. of course the bond markets is where a lot of the attention has been within the last half an hour or so. just over 2 billion euros worth of paper they managed to sell. ne

i'm talking, of course, about this ben, fed chair ben bernanke. today he announced he'll continue so-called operation twist. the goal is to bring down interest rates. theoretically that would spark borrowing, spending and hiring. it would be a panacea to fix the whole problem. but even ben admits his supply of money is drying up. >> monetary policy is not a panacea, it's not going to solve our economic problems. >> the fed fed's drugs didn't come cheap either. tlfen three rounds of fed stimulus with a total price tag of $2.7 trillion. and that doesn't include the $267 billion extension to operation twist that was announced today. so the question is, were the highs we got worth the price of $2.7 trillion? check this out. when the financial crisis hit, the fed stepped in with an unprecedented plan to lower interest rates. it was called q.e. 1 or quantitative easing, 1.0. over that time, we saw a drop in borrowing rate. the rate did drop. that's a pretty decent high, 6.3% to 5.2%. the cost to get that drop in rates was $1.7 trillion. so when the econ

he's hopeful we'll see moderate growth this year, but federal reserve chair ben bernanke tells lawmakers if the u.s. is approaching a fiscal cliff, the fed can help but only congress can prevent a free-fall. >> i'd be much more comfortable if, in fact, you know, congress would take some of this burden from us and address those issues. >> that almost looks like what i want. >> reporter: part of that cliff, student loan rates set to double july 1st if congress doesn't act. >> don't be surprised, you know, two weeks from graduation you look up, and wham, you just got hit upside the head. >> reporter: president obama called congress stubborn, republicans criticized him for courting young voters in las vegas, instead of staying in washington to fix the student loan problem. >> he should be here working with us to ensure that they won't double. >> there is nothing fair about a government that favors political connections over honest competition. >> reporter: meantime, former president bill clinton is apologizing for appearing to side with republicans on extending tax cuts for the rich. he said

unless ben bernanke can devise a program that makes the banks want to give away money for commercial projects, highly unlikely, there's nothing more the fed can do that the market itself couldn't take care of. we can only rely on foreigners to do so much. they want the flight to quality so they buy treasurers. they want the stability of the u.s. real estate market so they buy real estate with cash. they don't build anything. that's not what they do. in the end they're simply hiding money in the u.s. since we have a stable political system. do not for one moment believe they have stability overseas. particularly in brazil and worse, argentina which has gotten back in the habit of appropriating private property. sure, pay attention to what ben bernanke has to say when he comes to capitol on thursday but don't overrate it because it just doesn't matter. it doesn't matter. recognize that bond buyers have done his bidding and then some and now it's up to congress to come up with something that restores confidence or the europeans to get their act together or the chinese to get their econo

i have no compunction about that. >> we move on to business now, where fed chairman ben bernanke says the federal reserve is prepared to take action if needed to protect the u.s. economy. but for now, there are no concrete plans to do so. response to the dismal may jobs report, and the growing economic crisis in europe, mr. bernanke told leaders of congress yesterday the fed is still trying to determine whether or not dirk steps are necessary to bolster economic growth from his group. bernanke did warn congress about the looming fiscal cliff of automatic spending cuts and those expiring bush tax cuts. >> the potential expiration of the so-called bush tax cuts of 2001-2003 tax cuts is the single biggest item in the fiscal cliff. i'm not necessarily saying that the right thing to do is to extend those cuts. it could be there are other steps you could take that would have a similar impact. but, that is the single biggest component of the so-called cliff. >> taking an early look at the markets as we get all up in your business. cnbc's karen tso is live in london for us. karen, good mornin

ben bernanke. and, of course, we have the foundation for a rally. we'll see what the fed chairman says. if he hips at all about further stimulus, about further easing and whether that can actually continue, the rally today that we saw from yesterday. >> meantime, the dow, as you know, is coming off the biggest gain of the year. jim finally got what he's been calling for for weeks. bank of england held steady. time for the road map. they are calling it the most important political event of the day. what he says about rates, jobsejobses and nasdaq tries to make good for facebook but neither underwriters or rivals are very happy. what more can gob greifeld do? and new revelations about chesapeake that handled audrey mcclendon's personal business. will bernanke keep the going? less than a week after the disappointing jobs number, we will wait to hear if he says anything about the stimulus. we'll go live and bring you the q and a session from the committee members. last night, janet yellin does say that there are certain conditions that would make policy

ben bernanke comtting billions of dollars to operation twist. moody's took a whack at the credit rating of 15 major banks which could make it more expensive for you to rrow money. and turning sour over the worry about spain. in d.c., council members decided who would take over key positions followining the downfall of kwame brown. we wilill have those topics and more for a roundtable. first, we will focus o on the company that has become the ast of the beverage industry. arealking about total wine & more th largest independent retatailer of a fine wine. david and robe tro opened two win retailers and then opened several ofheir own. we are glad to have with u david and robert tronene. welcome to "washington business report." david, t oldldest, robert is the youngest. whose idea was it? >> a joint idea of. >> at what age? >> we stard in 1991 as a beer business in pennsylvania. then we got into wine a spirits. we were probably 28, 30 years old? >> you bototh were atat penenn. what led you to see this as a business opptunity? >> actually, no drinkin

what do you want to -- here's ben bernanke. let's go now to the fed chairman. it's his show from here on out. >> good afternoon. before we get to questions, i'll summarize today's policy action by the federal open market committee and then place the committee's decision in the context of our economic outlook and our collective judgment about the appropriate path of monetary policy. as indicated in the statement released earlier this afternoon, the committee is maintaining a highly accommodative policy. we decided to keep the target range at 0% and anticipate economic conditions likely to warrant exceptionally low levels to the federal funds rate at least through late 2014. in addition, the committee decided to continue through the end of the year a program of lengthening the maturity of the holdings rather than completing the program this month as previously scheduled. the committee intends to purchase treasure securities with six years to 30 years at the current pace. and to sell or redeem an equal amount of treasury securities with remaining securities of thr

fed chairman ben bernanke will testify before congress on thursday. investors are hoping some kind of measures by the federal reserve to spur growth in the u.s. economy. so for more on how stocks are trading here in tokyo, let's go to the tokyo stock exchange. good morning. a pretty strong rebound for the dow. we saw gains in the nikkei yesterday. how are things starting off today? >> very good morning to you. there's some hopes there in the market following on from the european central bank that you mentioned. either politicians or central bankers will take some measures, extra measures, really to cope with the scale of the global picture that we're seeing for the global economy right now. let's have a look at the nikkei and topix. we're seeing a positive start. the nikkei up 1.2%. the topix just up over 1% as well. the nikkei did gain ground yesterday as well. it was up around 2%. yen weaken around 1% as well, which really did help those exporters, which have been heavily sold off in recent sessions as we very well know. as you mentioned, their focu

. >> fed chairman ben bernanke gave his economic assessment to congress. nikole killion has tonight's project economy report. >> chairman bernanke would not rule out more fed action, which came as a disappointment to some lawmakers and investors. stocks soared again but soured on news from federal reserve chairman ben bernanke after a congressional panel asked him this. >> is the federal reserve planning to take any additional actions in the short term to spur economic growth caused or >> i cannot directly answer your question. >> he indicated the central bank is prepared to act if the economy takes a turn for the worse. >> if we determine that further action is potentially wanted, then obviously we have a number of different options . >> 6 -- it could include another round of stimulus. some lawmakers said the fed has already done enough. but i wish you would look the market in the eye and said the fed has done all it can for the past two months. >> bernanke's testimony comes on the heels of a weak may jobs report and financial turmoil in europe. >> the ch

of course we'll be watching ben bernanke tomorrow. it's going to be crucial testimony to see whether this economy is in recession or not right now. >>> outfront next, a huge story in the election involving unions that could have implications for every state. and it happened hundreds and hundreds of miles away from wisconsin. >>> and later, the facebook debacle at the nasdaq and how much it will cost. >>> and later, we've got new video in the case of the man accused of murdering a student, obliterating his body and sending the parts through the mail. how did i get here? dumb luck? or good decisions? ones i've made. ones we've all made. about marriage. children. money. about tomorrow. here's to good decisions. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. massmutual. we'll help you get there. our cloud is made of bedrock. concrete. and steel. our cloud is the smartest brains combating the latest security threats. it spans oceans, stretches continents. and is scalable