financial market. there are many scenarios that you could imagine. oil prices being driven up by geopolitical problems. one could certainly imagine -- one thing we do in our federal market committee meetings as look at alternative stipulations in scenarios and alternate -- alternative situations and scenarios and other things that could occur. it looks like markets are more stable. banks are working their way out of a period of high loss and financial stress. the consumer is doing better. for all of those reasons, i think our best bet is that we will see a moderate recovery. again, forecasting is not a precise business. >> so, we are making progress, but have not achieved total success. what happens, german bernanke, if the unemployment rate does not decline as the economy

improves? >> that is the possible risk. we anticipate the unemployment rate is likely to decline relatively slowly. there are a couple of factors. one is the pace of overall growth. if growth is moderate, that will not quickly lower the unemployment rate. that is the first observation. the second has to do with the rate of productivity. following the 2001 recession, productivity gains were significant, which is generally a good thing. and then that firms were relatively slow at bringing workers back. -- it meant that firms were relatively slow at bringing workers back. we do not anticipate productivity growth will continue at that rate going forward. it does, that will reduce the number of workers at firms need to bring back to meet demand.

there is a possibility -- i would not consider deleting the possibility. there's a possibility that unemployment will stay around 10%. if that were to happen, it is one of the risks we were just discussing, because that would produce -- reduce consumer confidence and make them concerned about their ability to sustain their spending. >> you took some creative steps in creating new facilities. i believe the only funding facility still operating is talf. when you plan to close it? do you plan to make it permanent? there is a commercial real estate crisis. i would like to know if there are any additional action that can be taken by congress or others to protect against a crisis in commercial real- estate. where do you see this going forward? >> the only remaining facility is in fact the talf for

commercial real estate. we left it in longer because of the extra need the andre -- there and because it takes longer to bring those to market. we are planning to close that on june 30th. we're only making those loans on an emergency basis. we do have to justify having this emergency program. we've seen improvements in the commercial, mortgaged-backed securities market. our plan is to close at the end of june. on commercial real estate, for many banks, particularly small and medium-size banks, it is a challenge. we're seeing up few glimmers of improvement -- a fwe glimmers of improvement, but it will -- we are seeing a few glimmers of improvement. it will still be a few quarters

before they understand their losses and risks in that area. as -- in our capacity as bank supervisor, the fed and supervisors have issued new guidance on commercial real estate. we want to encourage workouts, in the same way that government policy has been to help residential mortgages, to help residential borrowers worked out troubled mortgages, we would like to see that happen for commercial real-estate mortgages. we believe that is happening in many cases. we want to promote that. we have instructed our examiners to try to work with banks to work out problem loans and to maintain the flow of credit or a possible. it is a problem. it is not just the financing issue. it is of fundamental crisis in commercial real estate.

-- it is a fundamental crisis in commercial real estate. rates are down. it will be -- we will continue to work with banks to work through that. they're a big issues in the past with commercial realistic reading banking problems. -- there have been issues in the past with commercial real estate creating banking problems. i do not know what to suggest to congress. ultimately, i think that the banking system and the borrowers are going to have to find solutions and work through this as quickly as possible. >> to see this entire joint economic committee hearing with ben bernanke log on to our web site, c-span.org. >> coming up, the weekly online addresses from president obama

and republican house whip eric cantor. later on "the communicators," as the department's senior adviser for innovation talks about how the department wants to use technology to advance diplomacy. >> today on america & the courts, supreme court justice stephen breyer and clarence thomas discussed next year's budget before a house appropriations subcommittee. it ought about cameras in the courtroom, the diversity of law clerks, and cases involving health care legislation. "america & the courts," is tonight at 7:00 eastern here on c-span. but in his weekly online address, president obama talks about financial regulation that would create a part -- a consumer protection agency and established new rules governing the practices of wall street firms and government sponsored entities. after that, republican house

whip eric cantor talks about the federal tax filing deadline and criticizes better it -- criticizes government spending and higher taxes. >> there were many causes of the turmoil that ripped through our economy over the past two years. but above all, this crisis was caused by the failures in the financial industry. what is clear is that this crisis could have been avoided, if wall street firms were more accountable, if financial dealings were more transparent, and if consumers and shareholders were given more information and authority to make decisions. but that did not happen. and that is because special interests have waged a relentless campaign to thwart even basic, commonsense rules, rules to prevent abuse and protect consumers. in fact, the financial industry and its powerful lobby have opposed modest safeguards against the kinds of reckless risks and bad practices that led to this very crisis. the consequences of this failure of responsibility from wall street to washington are all around us -- 8 million jobs

lost, trillions in savings erased, countless dreams diminished or denied. i believe we have to do everything we can to ensure that no crisis like this ever happens again. and that is why i am fighting so hard to pass a set of wall street reforms and consumer protections. a plan for reform is currently moving through congress. here is what this plan would do. first, it would enact the strongest consumer financial protections ever. it would put consumers back in the driver's, by forcing big banks and credit card companies to provide clear, understandable information, so that americans can make financial decisions that work best for them. next, these reforms would bring new transparency to financial dealings. part of what led to this crisis was firms like aig and others making huge and risky bets, using things like derivatives, without accountability. warren buffett himself once described derivatives bought and sold with little oversight as, "financial weapons of mass destruction."

that is why, through reform, we would help ensure that these kind of complicated financial transactions take place on an open market. because, ultimately, it is a marketplace that is open, free, and fair that will allow our economy to flourish. we would also close loopholes to stop the kind of recklessness and irresponsibility that we have seen. it is these loopholes that allowed executives to take risks that not only endangered their companies, but also our entire economy. and we're going to put in place new rules so that big banks and financial institutions will pay for the bad decisions they make, not taxpayers. simply put, this means no more taxpayer bailouts. never again will taxpayers be on the hook because a financial company is deemed too big to fail. finally, these reforms hold wall street accountable by giving shareholders new power in the financial system. they will get a say on pay, a vote on salaries and bonuses awarded to top executives, and the s.e.c. will ensure that shareholders have more power in

corporate elections, so that investors and pension-holders have a stronger voice in determining what happens with their life savings. now, unsurprisingly, these reforms have not exactly been welcomed by the people who profit from the status quo, as well as their allies in the washington. this is probably why the special interests have spent a lot of time and a lot of money lobbying to kill or weaken the bill. just the other day, in fact, the leader of the senate republicans and the chair of the republican senate campaign committee met with two dozen top wall street executives to talk about how to block progress on this issue. lo and behold, when he returned to washington, the senate republican leader came out against common-sense reforms that we have proposed. in doing so, he made the cynical and deceptive assertion that reform would somehow enable future bailouts, when he knows that it would do exactly the opposite. every day we do not act, the same system that led to bailouts remains in place, with the exact same loopholes and the

exact same liabilities. if we do not change what led to the crisis, we will doom ourselves to repeat it. that is the truth. opposing reform will leave taxpayers on the hook if a crisis like this ever happens again. so, my hope is that we can put this kind of politics aside. my hope is that democrats and republicans can find common ground and move forward together. but this is certain -- one way or another, we will move forward. this issue is too important. the costs of inaction are too great. we will hold wall street accountable. we will protect and empower consumers in our financial system. that is what reform is all about. that is what we're fighting for. that is exactly what we're going to achieve. thank you so much. >> i'm house republican whip eric cantor, and i have the great privilege of representing the hard-working people of virginia's seventh district. this week, americans from coast to coast send their tax payments to washington.

your government continues to spend more and more. that means that your taxes are more and more. this has to stop. you can help stop it. the challenges and situations faced by families, small- business people, and young workers have no doubt made this tax day particularly painful. but as painful as it was, the truth is that the actions taken by speaker nancy pelosi, majority leader harry reid, and the obama administration are going to make the tax days of the future much, much worse. president obama has signed 25 tax increases passed by the democratically-controlled congress into law that will cost families and small- business people more than $670 billion over the next 10 years. many of these break the president's campaign promise not to raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. in the house, speaker pelosi and her majority have passed

legislation that will result in more than $1 trillion -- that is with a "t" -- in net tax increases. tax increases are the symptom. runaway spending is washington's disease. the democrats control every lever of power in washington and they have never met a tax they did not like or found a dollar they could not spend. their economic plan -- you pay, they spend, and your children owe. you deserve better. speaking of your children, the deficits left in the wake of president obama is the agenda now stand at $1.50 trillion. they will add $11 trillion to our national debt over the next 10 years. one nonpartisan study reveals that the key -- to keep up with the spending, the government would have to find about $0.50

trillion each year in new revenue. that means that families earning slightly more than $200,000 would skyrocket to well over 70% in taxes. that is right, 70%. democrats have already made clear that more tax increases on income, capital gains, and dividends are on the way. some, including the president himself, refer to this as letting the bush tax cuts expire. but, no matter how he spends it -- spins it, it means you will be paying more. at the end of this year, americans will face the obama administration's tax increase. it will be the largest in history. as if that was not enough, others, including speaker nancy pelosi and obama economic adviser paul volcker, support a european-style value-added tax. higher