chairman bernanke at the federal reserve embarked upon qe2.it was a brilliant policy in an emergency state. qe2 was when they put qe in the tool cut, tool kit of monetary policy. i think it has been a disaster. and it led to fiscal recklessness, but if you remember, when bernanke introduced it, he assured us when the fed balance sheet was $800 billion that this was a temporary measure, we weren't going to monetize the debt, there is no way this would be increased in the balance sheet over the long-term. here we are, 13 years later, the balance sheet just shrunk from $9 trillion to $8 trillion. all right. so, that, to me, that monetary policy, which was then followed up by janet yellen as fed chair led to all kinds of fiscal recklessness because it checked the markets, it disallowed the markets check on fiscal behavior because when rates are zero, you think you can spend forever and there was this mmt rates, the whole thing. the mnuchin/trump administration did something never been done before in history, they run a full employment trillion dol

there's a quote in the book from ben bernanke about the us is an insurance company with an army. what what does he mean by that really really means that if you look at the government programs so many em insurance as i said there's about 150 of them and you know they range from pbc, fdic and all those guarantee programs but there's medicare, medicaid. fannie and freddie are on that list now as quasi government insurance and they really are three quarters of the budget of the united states. and, you know, we had so many different insurance programs. we have you know, i you mentioned bill, i was a chair of a museum. if you borrow art from foreigners you get government insurance for the for your museum, for the art that you're bar, you know, it's important. but, you know, and there's crop insurance, as you know, flood insurance everywhere you turn. we've created programs. and that's what he man and he's right. some good questions. how much would it help to raise on the rich and corporations that? is making capital gains the same rate as? what was the i can't read the rest of you as o

who do we have to go back to, ben bernanke?ile, because unfortunately, the fed turned what was supposed to be a bridge in operation into something much more long-term. every time they tried to exit -- do you remember 2013, they didn't have the courage to absorb the immediate market reaction. i said it at the time, it's like taking candy away from the kid. the kid will yell but the answer is not to give them more candy. and we became over reliant on central bank balance sheets. they did a lot of damage. they allowed excessive risk taking. look at what has been happening in terms of excessive risk taking all around the financial markets, and that was the combination of reliable liquidity from a noncommercial buyer, and that's a really important characteristic, and secondly, an interest rate that remained too low for too long. >> you think the fed won't have to do anything that rates will come down from where they are right now, or they have to be brought down because you think the economy is headed into a recession and the fed wi

i go back to bernanke 101. the strength of the banking system is everything.anking industry, strength is not there. scarlett: it is as strong as its weakest link, and citigroup is trading at .4 when it comes to ratio. jp morgan, its price-to-book ratio is about 1.39. it is a huge gap. tom: this is so much fun. it is always fun with brammo. ferro and i do not speak to each other when we are not on the show. but having the fu here brings back memories. scarlett: i like that. tom: you've got to be kidding me. look at that photo. she hasn't changed a bit. me, on the other hand. it is the first place new york rangers. it is extraordinary. on radio. good morning. ♪ >> we are going meeting by meeting. >> what the market saw was a reference for the worry of tightening financial conditions. we could be done. >> if i were talking to jay powell, i recommend he leave the door open. >> our concern is around may and june, where is the fed going to be? >> it is either zero or multiple rate hikes. >> this is "bloomberg surveillance" with tom keene, jonathan ferro and lisa abr

we have thought that since ben bernanke changed the way the fed operates.the end cycle has been distorted by the changes the fed has made in communication and insensitivity to house mandate affects the economy, both the consumer and business. it is a positive change. the imperative is the personality of the fed chair be attuned to the ben bernanke legacy and we think powell is attuned to it. lisa: i was struck by the midcycle call because you like cyclicals and financials at a time we see them looking at ways to cut costs. why are you bullish on financials given everything we have seen in capital markets being as slow as they are? john: looking at costs is a positive thing. we saw when technology looked at costs, we saw one of the biggest technology names go from down 70% to a huge rally. we think banks may not do that, but related to banks they are in a good position to fund what is coming forward. tom: as the world awaits your 2024 bull market call, what is the attribute that is the greatest mystery? is it some cfa ratio? is it something the fed is doing?

bernanke taught us at princeton that financial structure and strength matters. i am looking at the technical constructs of the american banking system and i do not like what i see. should the fed full do in what is happening to the banks right now? should day today pay their meetings to the weakness that we see in commercial banking equity prices? dominic: absolutely and i think the thing that so many people miss is they think that banks are less important now than they were before because of alternative banking, private equity, fintech, other forms of leverage in the system that people seem to think credit is elsewhere. credit is outside money which is a central bank. you can say stop the credit creation process. there is something called inside money which is the banking system and they continue the credit creation process. that pretty much is how credit is created. money can only be created by the fed and the banks. it cannot be created by private equity. they have to get their leverage from somewhere. you always have to go to the banking system and you alway