what is ben bernanke's legacy? tweet that out. we would like to hear from you. what has he accomplished or not accomplished? this is "bloomberg surveillance." i am tom keene. scarlet fu and alix steel are with me. jim rogers is with me. tope have fed-less headlines. the jobless rate is dropping to 7.4% in october. that is the lowest since april 2009. the fall and unemployment has led to speculation that the bank of england could raise interest rates as early as next year. there were two winners in last night's $636 million mega millions jackpot. one ticket was sold in california and the other was sold in atlanta. become harder to win as the pool increases. to russia with burgers. shake shack is opening its first restaurant in the country and moscow. they will go for more than seven dollars. that is 50% more than in new york prices. russia 30's opened in years ago and a lot of people stood in line for their grand opening. >> i enjoy and they're fine with zine a few nights ago -- fine cuisine a few nights ago. my peo

and ben bernanke. the former partner of private equity firm bain capital and also the author of "unintended consequences. oh -- consequences." years andthrough the you also lived through the bernanke years, culminating in your book. in your view, which fed chairmen serve you best? [laughter] >> i suppose alan greenspan. even.t things steady and if you look at the class of 1982, it has been an extremely successful class because over this time, the economy has grown by leaps and bounds relative to other times. are talking about what ben bernanke's legacy might be but i feel like we do not know because we do not know where it ends and the flooding of the markets and all this money could and poorly. money really led to the asset inflation and lead to a crash that was very punishing for a lot of people. do you think we can take stock in bernanke today e >> i disagree with you on greenspan. i do not think the fed has a big impact on asset bubbles. small but not large. i think ben bernanke will be recognized

ben bernanke and the post-crisis ben bernanke. people look at those individuals differently. >> why? >> i could tell you why. let's give peter a chance. >> this was a guy who got the baton from alan greenspan in 2005 and 2006 without any storm clouds. everyone thought this was smooth and he would be able to coast along on a goldilocks economy that was happening. it did not work out. students of the great depression, the expert on the great depression found himself confronted with much the same thing. he had to invent new rules and new tools for the federal reserve. that has been controversial. those decisions -- we do not know how the full legacy will be measured. we have not seen the wind down of the risk factors that everyone knows are out there. looking back, critics in washington as well as supporters who say they are thankful ben bernanke was in the job if for no other reason that he provided a cool hand. in terms of how he led the fed and made decisions, controversial as they may be, people in washington are thankful he was

that's outgoing federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. he's talking about unemployment, inflation, and monitory policy. he mentioned today that he set transparency as an important priority for the time that he served as fed chair. when he talks like that is the public meant to follow it or really is he talking in technical terms to an audience of journalists and others who understand the technical talk? >> i think he's doing the best to straddle both worlds. his first attempt to be colloquial than his "60 minutes" interview that he did. he has done a great job, especially when you consider where the fed is coming from. his predecessor alan greenspan led in policy by discretion. we're doing this because we think its best and we're not going to tell you the reasoning behind it, bernanke has gone out of his way to use explanations to the public. he uses terminology that may not be your average person's vernacular, but he has increased the amount of transparency. >> and in this case what does that mean? >> very low interest rates for a very l

is ben bernanke a friend or foe of retailers? who better to ask than a retailer who was schooled by one of ben bernanke's heroes by the way, the late great milton friedman. first on fox business interview, we're pleased to have back with us in person in new york this time, patrick m. byrne, overstock.com chairman, ceo and founder and really renaissance man. patrick, good to see you. the fed -- >> the fed. david: is it having any influence at all on retail sales do you think? >> of course the easy money policy is, a way to prop up retail sales, a way to prop up the pockets of the rich. them saying they will taper in january is like you and i saying we're going on a diet in january. i don't think they can taper. if they do taper we'll slip back into recession. i don't believe anything they say. david: we're seeing retail sales up .7% in november. it sounds like it is fair to say you think the fed's influence on the economy has been pretty negligible? >> i think it as an influence, wholly pernicious. david: how? >> because they are

both leaderships wanted this to happen for the reason ben bernanke expressed. it's not often washington gets a chance to please anybody but markets wanted this, the country wanted this. >> all right. so now that they are all getting along in washington, will that carry over to 2014, john? >> to a limited extent, susie. there will not be a shutdown when the government runs out of money in january. they will extend government funding along the lines outlined by the deal, and i think that even though some republicans said yes, we'll make demands for the debt limit, i don't think they will push it to the brink so we'll is a smooth process on the debt limit. the question is can we get anything bigger than that? can we get immigration reform? a grand bargain? that is by far from clear and actually unlikely. >> so if you have a two-year deal on the federal budget, then if the debt limit debate becomes contankous, what would the gop look for to let administration raise the debt limit? >> you certainly could have them return to issues of obamacare, that they have loved

that's outgoing federal reserve chairman ben bernanke. he's talking about unemployment, inflation, and highly accommodative monitory policy. and even today he mentioned that he set transparency as an important priority for a the time that he served as fed chair. when he talks like that is the public meant to follow or is he talking in-- >> during the press conference it's difficult for him not to get technical because we ask him somewhat technical questions, but i think he has done a great job. his predecessor alan greenspan believed in policy by discretion, and it was sort of we're doing this because we think its best. we're not going to tell you the reasoning behind it, and ba bernanke has gone out of his way to discuss the policy. he has not use the average person's vernacular, i think he does his best to describe why the fed is doing what it's doi doing. >> in this case what does this mean? >> very low interest rates for a very long time. the fed is going to remain supportive of the economy regardless of this small retreat from the wo

watching ben bernanke full labor force participation rate. long-term unemployed was a problem in back in september when you didn't announce taper. why is it a problem low. still at 1978 levels. are we going to hear more fed officials trying to anchor expectations about interest rates? rate spikes, rate rises are kryptonite to the market. ashley: right. -@>> you will see more fed officials out en masse to anchor inflation expectations. more to your point, before the break, ashley, where will the banks park reserves. that is when you talk about inflation, right? that is when banks start lending again and true inflation could possibly pick up steam. ashley: lou, same question to you. you're sitting there. mr. bernanke says, mr. dobbs, you've got the next question, what do you say? >> i don't know that i would form it as a question but rather say, mr. bernanke, well-done, because the, they have managed the, fed in one taper, if you will, to take two elements out of the market. one is they have taken ideology out of the market. you won't hear much

bernanke, filled with virtually every economic challenge imaginable. >> i, ben s. bernanke -- >> reporter: it began in 2006 when bernanke became the 14th federal reserve chairman, taking the reins from the man once called the maestro, alan greenspan. at first it was smooth sailing. the u.s. economy was expanding, storm clouds seemed far away. but all that changed in 2007. >> the economic outlook has been importantly affected by recent developments in financial markets which have come under significant pressure over the past few months. >> reporter: the slump in housing gathered speed, foreclosures surged. publicly, bernanke remained upbeat. >> our forecast is for moderate put positive growth going forward for the next few quarters. >> reporter: in fact, the great recession was just beginning. bear stearns collapsed in 2008 and was gobbled up by jpmorgan chase. lehman brothers collapsed, stocks tanked, and credit markets seized up. >> this plan is an emergency plan to put out a fire. >> reporter: bernanke stepped on the gas and revved up the engines. >> mr. bernanke

>>some months ago when ben bernanke talked about it it rattled the markets. do you think some of the fear has been built in already? >>i think that's why we saw the s&p pullback about 1 ½% last week. i think caused that momentum for traders to take some of the money and pull some things off and start looking toward next year. >>tell me about some of the sectors out there that you might see impacted by any announcement that comes this week. >>we should see the gold market selloff hard. i think that will press that 1200 level. that's been a key level of support so we're probably gonna see another leg down on that. we'll also see the oil markets sell off. most likely 2 -3 dollars on that type of news. >>both of those commodities have already been dropping. >>absolutely. >>how about equities in general? >>we're probably gonna see the s&p 500 continue to melt down. 1750 is a key level of support and i think that a lot of liquidation is gonna occur as a result. >>you think people should be ready for the turnaround right? >>back to the downside, yeah that's complet

>> so, ben bernanke laid out three data conditions. you got to get employment gains, gdp growth picking up and disinflation ending. the problem is, inflation has fallen even more since over the last couple months. they're well below their goal and that's why we think they'll put off the taper until january or march? >> what about you, mike. >> we're looking for january. i think it's a close call. i would not be surprised if they were to taper in an hour from now. as vince pointed out inflation isn't going in the right direction but it's not too far off where they were projecting it in june. >> vince? >> after september 18th, you never put a zero probability on anything. they may very well surprise us in an hour. there's another factor at work, though. it's a different share. >> exactly. >> a person sitting in the chair than anticipated. janet yellen didn't get confirmed in time. it would be a messy sendoff the person explaining what the federal reserve will do over the next couple of years is the person who will probably resign within

ben bernanke's final press conference as chairman begins half an hour later. should they make an announcement today? >> well, the data was good enough in december to go and they didn't. that time i think they got a call from the white house given all the budget problems. the budget problem is solved, employment is looking better, but it's just that inflation is low. the fed does have to worry about inflation. the odds of going today or in january have increased substantially. >> is there any concern about them going today with lighter volumes? would that cause more of an issue for them? would that be a reason not to do it? >> i'm not sure if it would be the only factor. low readings there. in terms of the debt ceiling, there has been no deal yet. february 7 is still on the cards. that altogether could see them hesitate at least and wait out until next year. >> it just seems -- you know, it just seems another sort of three months of this seems like purgatory to me. >> well, it's the purgatory the fed put us in when they didn't move in october. it was hard to ra

ben bernanke announcing that they will reduce the bond program by $10 million in january. while saying that the paper will continue further measured steps at future meetings if the economy stays on course. and here is the outgoing fed chairman explaing why the decision was made to begin reining in what has been an explosi expansion of the fed's balance sheet and the greatest capital injection into our financial system in history. >> policy actions today reflect thassessment that the economy is continuing to make progress and that it also has farther to travel before conditions can be judged as normal. notably, despite headwinds, the economy has been expanding at a moderate pace and we expect that growth will pick up somewhat in cominquarters, helped by highly accommodated monetary policy is and waning fiscal drag. lou:the dow jones, 14 times in the our leading up tothe announcement, panicked by an intimatiothat the fed would cut back the bond purchases. imementing this so-called paper. this includes investor anxiety ov the announcent sent the market indexes lower. down to

we saw ben bernanke appeared to many people changing the goalposts. first it was 6.5% unemployment which would lead to raising rates. now he says the, chairman says until far beyond that, i think phrase he used when they might does that concern you the goalposts seem to be changing here? >> david, let me differentiate between two. one is asset purchases, large-scale asset purchases, qe3 in the parlance of the media. then there is how we anchor the shortened of the-year-old curve. that is the reference to 6.5%. that was not just ben bernanne. it was a statement by the committee. it is in the issued statement. david: i understand. >> we'll go working on, getting back hopefully to normalization, working on the overnight rate which is the fed funds rate or its equivalent when we do these reverse repo operations as they're called. we'll just have to wait and see how the economy develops. i think it was just shifting the ball and going back, really essentially to what we originally did which is dealing with the short term end of the yield curve. that is the

ben bernanke announcing that they will reduce the bond program by $10 million in january. while saying that the paper will continue further measured steps at future meetings if the economy stays on course. and here is the outgoing fed chairman explaining why the decision was made to begin reining in what has been an explosive expansion of the fed's balance sheet and the greatest capital injection into our financial system in history. >> policy actions today reflect the assessment that the economy is continuing to make progress. and that it also has farther to travel before conditions can be judged as normal. notably, despite headwinds, the economy has been expanding at a moderate pace and we expect that growth will pick up somewhat in coming quarters, helped by highly accommodated monetary policy is and waning fiscal drag. lou: the dow jones, 14 times in the our leading up to the announcement, panicked by an intimation that the fed would cut back the bond purchases. implementing this so-called paper. this includes investor anxiety over the announcement sent the market inde

ben bernanke, that was a stimulus. but that cannot be economic policy for this country and economic policy by just flooding money into our system. you have to have confidence. you can give me all kinds of money, but if i don't think i can replace it and i don't have aren'tnd these tariffs coming into this country and we don't get jobs because corporations can do it cheaper are note else and we charging them to have access to our economy, we are not ever going to recover from this mess. we need to have our representatives put these things on the floor. these bad trade agreements are killing us. we are not going to survive otherwise. thank you folks. , the caller reddy was talking about putting bills on the floor to change the system. another is a bill pushing to audit the fed. can you talk a little bit about that bill and who is behind that effort. it is directed by a number of lawmakers. a substantial share in the house of representatives. in the senate, you are seeing a fairmont of leadership from senator rand paul, w

ben bernanke began tapering this week. is he making the right move? >> yes, yes, i'm worried about a bubble forming if we don't begin tapering, so -- >> is he doing it at the right speed? >> well, we'll see. the numbers just came out, as you saw, today indicating that our gdp growth in the third quarter was higher than expected. a lot of it was inventory, so we're not sure how much to trust that, but i do think that we have to begin this tapering. we're unprecedented in terms of the fed balance sheet, and also having the overnight rate be at zero. basically, there's no flexibility for the fed to be able to respond to the possibility of going into another recession, so i think it's appropriate. >> senator portman, let me close by asking you a political and personal question. earlier this year, you reported that your son was gay and that you had changed your position and you now support gay marriage. nine months later, what's been the political fallout? and really more importantly, what effect has it had on your family? >> family's doing great, first of

that is when ben bernanke got his name of helicopter ben. there was a great fear of deflation in the u.s. economy. they actually cut rates in 2003. of course the activity data was picking up. essentially the concerns of the deflation back then were wrong. they have to look at the activity data. to date it is clearly picking up. >> when you look at the implication s of this for other central banks, what are they? ben bernanke has an effect well beyond the shores to have united states and the e.c.b. has got to be looking at this. the dollar reaction hasn't been that strong. draghi has to be nervous about that. he will be hoping the dollar is surging. >> as i have said here before, the direction of the dollar is not just about fed policy. it is about how other central banks respond. the dxy is nearly at 80. we're in the middle. >> where does it go? >> you have to pick and choose. euro/dollar, i would say forget about it. traders and investors are tiredor trying to take a position there. nobody wants to sell euro. i can't remember the last trade

we just heard from federal deserve chairman ben bernanke -- reserve chairman ben bernanke. peter cook was inside of the room at his last press conference. we are talking about what a monumental day this is in some ways because this is the legacy ben bernanke is leaving behind. he has begun this taper program, the unwinding of the balance sheet, something janet yellen will face, and it will be a real test for her moving forward. >> absolutely. the chairman, we know the decisions he made during the financial crisis, being credited with keeping the economy from falling into the a bass, but he will be judged on how this wind down takes place, as we'll janet yellen. they will be tied together because of this turnover. wasas striking when he asked about whether janet yellen agreed with everything, and whether there might be any surprise in the future, that there was no separation. he wanted to make it clear there was no daylight with regards to these decisions. he consulted with her before she was nominated, then again, and she is totally on board, an important message to the mar

ben bernanke says the u.s. economy is almost ready to stand on its own two feet without monthly contributions from the fed. that i had that made invest organs heaps for a day but ben berneke t took you him months to admit that the economy was tanking. he stood side-by-side with then president george w. bush, henry paulsen, as they continued to try to convince americans that everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. that administration did americans a huge disservice. bernanke gave it credibility. he came it out and came out from under their shadow. his fed led the charge coordinating in the darkest days of the financial crisis, ensuring the global flow of money and credit. while congress spent much of the last few years actively sometimeying the economy, the if he had has replaced it as the adult in the room. ben bernanke was late to the game. he stepped up. for that, he deserves the nation's gratitude. >> that's our show for today. i am ali velshi. thanks for joining us. >> hello, i'm richard gizbert and you

ben bernanke did what did he and still satisfy bond and stock markets. he made everyone feel good about the economy. >> it did two things. they did decide to taper. they're going to slow down their bond buying, but they're still going to be buying $75 billion a month. there is still going to be upwards of half a trillion dollars worth of these bonds. they haven't stopped. they certainly have reversed course. they're just slowing down a bit. but the other shoe that they dropped was one that is really the source of the big boom today in the stock market, and that is they're announcing they're not going to really begin to discuss raising interest rates until the unemployment rate falls a good bit further. >> which they don't see it happening until 2015. explain to my viewers that the rate is not going to increase until unemployment go lower, so why would i see higher mortgage rates. >> because the fed mostly and historically in the rates that they're talking about today are the short-term interest rates. the rates that you and i are borrowing at for mortgag

something happened with ben bernanke's camera. if we get it reestablished we will immediately get it back to you but we have enough to talk about right here. i am liz claman, welcome to come down to the closing bell and we have the camera back. >> uncertainties out there, fiscal, regulatory and so on that no doubt affects some of these calculations. we hear that from the fomc participants around a table as they report from their local districts. there are a lot of factors. usually you think the way at deficit or long term-would affect investment would be through crowding out, raising interest rates but high interest rates, we may have many problems but high interest rates are not the problem. particularly for larger firms there's plenty of credit available at no interest rates and we intend to try to provide that to help the economy grow and stimulate investment spending but it is going to take faster overall growth to get firms to expand capacity and think if consumer spending increases as we think it will and if exports increase

because ben bernanke knows what he's doing. because in this case, the one rare case we are a part of the government than the people who trade stocks and bonds for a living. we might have to endure endless attacks from ben bernanke and the president and the policies that hurt growth. we can digest the endless slagging for creating balloons and the disciplines that so many idea logs, dogmatically think are right. however, in the end, though, and today is the end, the last meeting of the ben bernanke era, he got it right. it was the critics who got it wrong. with this rally in the face of common sense decision to cut back the economy and we have the reason not to own stocks that one day the fed will begin to slow down as bond buying and it was fabulous, plus the worry is now behind us. we saw a glimpse of the future and they tried to prop up the stock market, and they know the economy is growing enough that the fed doesn't have to keep pumping in steroids and rates are still going to stay low perhaps to 2015 and beyond. bernanke c

you know i think as many people have noted he was ben bernanke is advisor at mit so i think to me it's just it's it's what i little bit worry about is is just more of the same you know i think it in our in our film we highlight officials like paul volcker and some of the regional bank presidents at the fed who have a slightly different perspective i think with stanley fischer i think you know he's clearly a very smart guy and an esteemed you know figure in this world the question is will his ideas be any different from what we've been seeing for the last five ten fifteen years out of the fed and i think i think the answer unfortunately is is notably more of the same now in your film you had a lot of access to current and past and officials what they have to say about quantitative easing and i mean specifically the effects that will have on the economy if and when the fed starts to wind it down yeah i mean i think. a good quantitative easing similar to the vocal rule is the kind of thing i think a lot of people have been judging in the short term and i think we really won't know for yea

you know i think as many people have noted he was ben bernanke his advisor at mit so i think to me it's just it's it's what i a little bit worried about is is just more of the same you know i think it in our in our film we highlight officials like paul volcker and some of the regional bank presidents at the fed who have a slightly different perspective i think with stanley fischer i think you know he's clearly a very smart guy and an esteemed you know figure in this world the question is will his ideas be any different from what we've been seeing for the last five ten fifteen years out of the fed and i think i think the answer unfortunately is is notably more of the same now in your film you have a lot of access to current and past that officials what they have to say about quantitative easing and i mean specifically the effects that will have on the economy if and when the fed starts to wind it down yeah i mean i think. a good quantitative easing similar to the vocal rule is the kind of thing i think a lot of people have been judging in the short term and i think we really won't know f

you know i think as many people have noted he was ben bernanke his advisor at mit so i think to me it's just it's it's what i a little bit worry about is is just more of the same you know i think it in our in our film we highlight officials like paul volcker and some of the regional bank presidents at the fed who have a slightly different perspective i think with stanley fischer i think you know he's clearly a very smart guy and an esteemed you know figure in this world the question is will his ideas be any different from what we've been seeing for the last five ten fifteen years out of the fed and i think i think the answer unfortunately is is notably more of the same now in your film you had a lot of access to current and past fed officials what they have to say about quantitative easing and i mean specifically the effects that will have on the economy if and when the fed starts to wind it down yeah i mean i think. a good quantitative easing similar to the vocal rule is the kind of thing i think a lot of people have been judging in the short term and i think we really won't know for y

a few minutes left to talk about ben bernanke and his legacy. jimmy is from athens, georgia. independent line. caller: good morning. listenersremind your that this tradition of big bank- hobia goes back to andrew jackson. they have helped our economy grow. this is the 100th anniversary of the fed. i want to thank mr. bernanke for giving us the lowest inflation rates in u.s. history as well as preventing great depression

bernanke his legacy will look like how will he be remembered as a fed chair. you know i think i am going to just keep repeating myself i feel like again we have to look at these things over the long period of time when alan greenspan stepped down in early two thousand and six he was you know seen by many as at the top of his game people were saying the greatest fed chair ever the greatest central banker ever you know two years later things look really differently as the u.s. economy and financial system completely collapsed just after he left so i don't i don't know that were in the position that we were you know under greenspan but i worry that break is really seen as being a hero for the boom that he's created in the last few years but what we've seen recently again it's the title of your show sometimes those booms turn to bust so i worry that he may be seen as a hero on the way out but you really have to look at these things and i would argue that the best fed officials do look at things over a longer term they're not looking at this quarter or what's the s

you know i think as many people have noted he was ben bernanke his advisor at mit so i think to me it's just it's it's what i a little bit worried about is is just more of the same you know i think it in our in our film we highlight officials like paul volcker and some of the regional bank presidents at the fed who have a slightly different perspective i think with stanley fischer i think you know he's clearly a very smart guy and an esteemed you know figure in this world the question is will his ideas be any different from what we've been seeing for the last five ten fifteen years out of the fed and i think i think the answer unfortunately is is notably more of the same now in your film you had a lot of access to current and past but officials what they have to say about quantitative easing and i mean specifically the effects that will have on the economy if and when the fed starts to wind it down yeah i mean i think. a good quantity of easing similar to the vocal role is the kind of thing i think a lot of people have been judging in the short term and i think we really won't know for

bernanke his legacy will look like how will he be remembered as a fed chair. you know i think. i'm going to just keep repeating myself i feel like again we have to look at these things over the long period of time when alan greenspan stepped down in early two thousand and six he was you know seen by many as at the top of his game you know people were saying the greatest fed chair ever the greatest central banker ever you know two years later things look really differently as the u.s. economy and financial system completely collapsed just after he left so i don't i don't know that were in the position that we were you know under greenspan but i worry that bernanke is really seen as being a hero for the boom that he's created in the last few years but what we've seen recently again it's the title of your show sometimes those booms turn to bust so i worry that he may be seen as a hero on the way out but you really have to look at these things and i would argue that the best fed officials do look at things over a longer term they're not looking at this quarter or

all as ben bernanke will to his final press conference. federal open market committee decision is an important decision and an historic decision. 2006-13, ben bernanke chooses with his fed to taper. as hes his first speech returned from the woodrow wilson center in february, 2006. what a safe quotation, michael mckee, from a safe time. >> at that time, inflation was not even on the radar screen. disinflation and re-inflation was nowhere. they are concerned about , but not enough to sway him or the committee in the vote. they say, especially if project inflation is effective to run below the committees two percent longer-term goal. they did add an inflation component. not as a lower bound on the inflation when they would hike, but they did note that they could change policy if they have this is what -- this deflation. >> in february, 2006, would you and your colleagues suggest that the fed had to provide almost closure to a burning kiera, and the way to do that was to begin? , and the bernanke era way to do was to begin? >> i think they sai

ben bernanke says the u.s. economy is almost ready to stand on its own two feet without fed. that i had that made invest organs heaps for a day but ben berneke t took you him months to tanking. he stood side-by-side with then president george w. bush, henry paulsen, as they continued to try to convince americans that everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. that administration did americans a huge disservice. bernanke gave it credibility. he came it out and came out from under their shadow. his fed led the charge coordinating in the darkest days of the financial crisis, ensuring the global flow of money and credit. while congress spent much of the last few years actively sometimeying the economy, the if he had has replaced it as the adult in the room. game. he stepped up. for that, he deserves the nation's gratitude. >> that's our show for today. i am ali velshi. thanks for joining us. ♪ ♪ >>> this is al jazerra america, live from new york city. i am jonathan betz w a look at today's top stories. 10s of thousands of refugees are fleeing their homes in south sudan. the

ben bernanke says the u.s. economy is almost ready to stand on its own two feet without fed. that i had that made invest organs heaps for a day but ben berneke t took you him months to tanking. he stood side-by-side with then president george w. bush, henry paulsen, as they continued to try to convince americans that everything was fine when it clearly wasn't. that administration did americans a huge disservice. bernanke gave it credibility. he came it out and came out from under their shadow. his fed led the charge coordinating in the darkest days of the financial crisis, ensuring the global flow of money and credit. while congress spent much of the last few years actively sometimeying the economy, the if he had has replaced it as the adult in the room. game. he stepped up. for that, he deserves the nation's gratitude. >> that's our show for today. i am ali velshi. thanks for joining us.

they got that from ben bernanke yesterday. arco when you look at this cautious view that was correct from bank of america, merrill lynch, have you brought up your view recently? is there more optimism at your shop? -- wehave not been low have not been below consensus for the last couple of years. for next year we are thinking with the smaller fiscal drag, with some signs of some of the tailwinds with the economy picking up, including housing, we are a bit more optimistic. we expect 2.6% next year in growth versus 1.7% this year. >> we know how much quantitative easing has helped the markets. how about america? how about regular people out there? what has he done for them? >> you have to remember if we had not had quantitative easing, there would have been more evident effect on the labor market. forwardquestion going is, will we start to see investment pick up, private investment on the part of firms? that will be the key driving forward. >> we have e call hansen, 35,000 feet, bank of america. are you ok? what is the irish phr

ben bernanke has entered his last lap. he said more but gradual. $10 million in cutbacks in bond buying. tell us what it means. >> he was like a magician at this. you make the point disappear. you pull everybody and say look at this hand. [laughter] that is what he did. with this hand, he tapered. with the other, let's keep interest rates low. do not pay attention to that. pay attention to this low interest rate. also taper light. the markets were unlike the middle of last year even suggesting -- in the middle when he suggested that record to taper, the markets went upward. >> get me the market psychology. they loved it. they did not expect it. >> he said there will still be easy money. the marks have been adjusted. the markets have adjusted. long-term yields are up 1.6%. most of all, the economy is working with health. the economy is working with him. back in may, people said the economy is not that strong. now, it is strong. today, we got numbers. they revised up the third quarter. of growth to 4.1%. the highest since th

this round goes to ben bernanke. he's going to finish on a high note. he's threaded the needle on calling $10 billion taper instead of -- stocks love it. there will be very doubt in my mind that equity should be able to run up for the rest of the year. what equity trader, what portfolio manager is going to challenge the notion of stocks going higher? what vested interest do they not have to put this money in their pockets? i think the real adjustments are yet to happen. i think dr. doom has it right when he said qe forever. you might taper it off for a bit but for the most part it's extremely large. >> lease talk to steve liesman who stepped out from the news conference. you asked the chairman about holding record low rates well beyond the 6.5% employment rate possibility. i mean, were you expecting that? are they just leaving their options open at this point? >> reporter: well, what i expected -- i didn't think they needed or were going to use that particular tool right off the bat. my expectation, bill, is that they would taper, see how the market rea

the contenders, paul volcker, alan greenspan, ben bernanke. i will have my pick and so will our panel of experts. >>> don't forget, folks, free market capitalism always the best path to prosperity. we're "kudlow" and we'll be right back. my mantra? family first. but with less energy, moodiness, and a low sex drive, i saw my doctor. a blood test showed it was low testosterone, not age. we talked about axiron. the only underarm low t treatment that can restore t levels to normal in about 2 weeks in most men. axiron is not for use in women or anyone younger than 18 or men with prostate or breast cancer. women especially those who are or who may become pregnant and children should avoid contact where axiron is applied as unexpected signs of puberty in children or changes in body hair or increased acne in women may occur. report these symptoms to your doctor. tell your doctor about all medical conditions and medications. serious side effects could include increased risk of prostate cancer; worsening prostate symptoms; decreased sperm count; ankle,

. >> reporter: ben bernanke announced the fed will begin to taper off its economic stimulus by reducing its bond buying program by $10 billion. it won't end it entirely, which was what some analysts feared. and the fed also decided not to touch interest rates. its key short-term rate will stay near zero until unemployment drops more. >> it now is expecting the unemployment range to fall from 6.3 to 6.6% in 2014 down from 7% we saw in november which was already a five-year low. >> reporter: ben bernanke made it clear the economy is improving slowly. so any change in stimulus should be equally deliberate. and if the pace continues, the fed's plan for changes will remain the same. >> my expectation is for similar moderate steps going forward throughout most of 2014. >> ben bernanke is wrapping up his termed as chairman. tony aiellojanet yellen will take over next year and will continue the same program. >>> thieves ripped out an atm in front of a san francisco store. that was just the beginning of an overnight crime caper. anne makovec on how the thieves led cops on a wrong way chase acros

coming up, ben bernanke's term ended wednesday and he did not go out quietly. >> our associate media producer is tracking the top stories on the web. >> a favorite past time credited for improving the vocabulary of americans turns 100 this week. i'll tell you more coming up. >> what do you think? join the conversation on twitter and on our facebook and google plus pages. night with the combatants in their training base. >> better than bernankes era is ending with a big bang. the stock markets soared to record levels despite the announcement the central bank was going to taper its economic stimulus next months. shortly after the rediscretion, the short dropped short term interest that rates to close to zero and began buying hundreds of billions of dollars in bonds as part of an easing program meant to fight the recession. those fed purchases reached $85 billion a month. thanks to an improving economy, that will be cut back in january. what does that change mean for all of us? for more, i'm joined from westchester pennsylvania by chief economist at moody analyst particulars, marg, grea

ben bernanke did a good job at that point. but since then i just think there's not evidence. and i think the market is going to do better basically when the fed gets off of these extraordinary unprecedented policies. david's right, there's nothing like this been done before in federal reserve history. and when these kinds of actions have to the been taken, when they've been avoid, we've had a much better recovery. this is the worst recovery. >> woodruff: adam pos en. >> it is disingenuous of john. because the idea that the economy is going to get better proves the qe stopped working is backwards. the reason they are easing up on qe is because the economy is improving. playing that game doesn't make any sense. more importantly, it's not reasonable to focus-- focus on the-- rather than the goals. what matters is the state of the economy, not what tools they use. >> woodruff: john taylor you want to come become and then i will go to david wessel. >> there is absolutely nothing disingenuous. look at the data, look at american history. you can see what works and what doesn't. this

janet yellen faces greater challenges than ben bernanke did. ben bernanke had to make decisions moments in time, hours in time at height of the financial crisis to save us ourselves. janet yellen will have to let hope manage the exit from the monetary policies that would be equally treacherous as getting into them. liz: people love to hear people like you give grades. can you grade ben bernanke on the decision? >> you know what, he got to leave on a high note. this is the first time he communicated clearly and the market heard. he hit it out of the park. i give him an a on this one. what a swan song for ben. i know it has been hard for him. i know there is a lot of critics and it has not been perfect but he hit it out of the park. he gets to go home for the holidays and be happy and miserable like rest of us. liz: hearing a minus from you. diane swonk, good to see you. >> thank you. liz: diane swonk from misery financial. david. david: we have earnings from china. jo ling kent has details. >> good news from china. eps and revenue, beat slightly

here is the thing, what about ben bernanke's legacy? >> it will be years before we know his true legacy. it is fairly easy to say he helped avert a great depression because of the actions they took immediately as the crisis developed. on the other hand, he did not foresee what was going on and it was his job to do so. you could argue he could not. the bubbleo this, formed and housing, he has to carried out. you have got to get out -- >> will janet yellen secure his legacy? >> it is possible it will be up to her. he is going to turn out to have been a good leader during a crisis. crises make leaders. perfecte say he was the man for the job because of his background, this was his interest, avoiding the great depression. >> he studied the great depression as a professor. nobody knew we would have another one. he took the lessons from that and applied it to the u.s. do not just sit there, do something. he did a lot, did what he -- was what he did effective? >> the idea of ben bernanke is a difference between him, governor king. there was a

we heard cautious optimism from ben bernanke as he explains the situation. >> today's policy actions reflect the assessment the economy is continuing to make progress but that the economy has much further to travel. the job market continues to improve with unemployment having climbed further. the recovery is far from complete with unemployment still elevated and long-term unemployment still a major concern. >> ben bernanke says the fact he will soon be replaced by his deputy did not affect the decision. the reaction was quick and strong on stock arctic. --l street rallied, the tao dow jumping one percent. the s&p also up about a percentage point. the fed welcomes this response is a tries to scale back massive support of the u.s. economy. let's turn to brussels, where european finance ministers say they have made a cruise in the long-standing efforts to deal with eggs. -- banks. beingnking union negotiated would likely be the eu's biggest project since the introduction of the euro. >> when banks across europe found themselves on the brink of collapse in 2009, governments across the co