i would now like to introduce chairman bernanke. dr. prior to beginning public service, dr. bernanke was the class of 1926 professor of economics and public affairs at princeton university. dr. bernanke had been a professor of economics and public affairs at princeton since 1985. welcome. we look forward to your testimony. >> i'm pleased to be here today. supported by stimulative monetary and fiscal policies and the concerted efforts of policymakers to stabilize the system, recovery seems to have begun in the second half of last year. an important impetus was firm success in working down the excess inventories that had built up during the contraction, which left companies more willing to expands production. indeed, the boost from the slower dradown in inventories accounted for the majority of the sharp rites in gross domestic product, during which real g.d.p. increased at 5.6%. with support from fiscal policies set to diminish in the coming year, further economic expansion will depend on continued growth and private final demand. on bal

i would like to introduce a chairman bernanke. dr. ben bernanke began a second term as chairman of the board of governors of the federal reserve system on february 1, 2010. chairman bernanke also served as chairman of the federal open market committee. he are originally took office as chairman on february 1, 2006, when he also began a 14-year term as member of the board. chairman bernanke was chairman of the president's council of economic advisers from june, 2005, to january, 2006. prior to beginning public service, chairman bernanke was the class of 1926 professor of economics and public affairs at princeton university. he had been a professor of economics and public affairs since prince -- at princeton since 1985. welcome. we look forward to your testimony. >> thank you, madame chair. members of the committee, i am pleased to be here today to discuss economic and financial developments. i would like to make a few remarks on the fiscal situation. supported by stimulus in the concerted efforts of policymakers to stabilize the financia

dr. elmendorf of the ngssional budget process. chairman bernanke has a code that and i feed -- i think paul samuelson has said we have a cancer that could threaten our -- that is a paraphrase i don't have the quote in front of me but already we are looking at levels of debt ggp guinn from 40% to 90% and we are looking at a budget that is going to triple the national debt over the next ten years. we are looking at almost a trillion dollars of interest payments alone at the end of the decade and so the question i have when everybody from the big ceo to the omb, to the president's own director says unsustainable gistel pass why not use the money to pay you guys to do something that you probably already earned and our incentive to do as opposed to paying off the national debt? >> if i see no enthusiastic takers of the question i will yield back >> the gentleman from illinois will have the final questions. >> thank you. my question is one executive year from my constituent focus in my district is people who have been trying to get free ma edged many of

dr. elmendorf of the congressional budget office. chairman bernanke has echoed that. i think economist paul samuelson has said that we have a fiscal cancer that could threaten our nation. that's a paraphrase. i don't have the quote in front of me. but already we're looking at levels of debt to gdp going from 40% of the economy to 90%. we are looking at a budget that's going to triple the national debt over the next 10 years. we are looking at almost a trillion dollars of interest payments alone at the end of the decade. and so the question i have, when everybody from cbo to omb, the president of director of omb says we are on an unsustainable fiscal path, why don't we use $50 billion to pay you guys to do something that you probably already our incentive to do as opposed to pay off the national debt? >> if i see no enthusiastic takers of the question, i will give back back to joan aspe before, i didn't get to pick the gentleman from eleanor will have the final question. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my last question was one of the things i hear to my constituent service

bernanke for being here today. the last time he was here we had limited discussion about the federal funds rate. there is going to be some testimony here today by dr. ball of johns hopkins where he says the fed should not raise the federal funds rate in the near term. his exact quote is, some day the economy will recover and the fed should raise the federal funds rate not assume some day. would you agree with this assessmentment? how long would unemployment have to go in order for you to think it is appropriate to raise the federal funds rate? do you agree with dr. ball's assessment that the fed should give greater weight than usual to unemployment when deciding how to set rates? i raise this question because as you know, the national urban league released its state of black america report for 2009 yesterday. we know that last month our blacks were unemployed at nearly twice the rate of whites 15.9% to 8.8%. the gap since 1974 is just barely closing. in considering the question on the federal funds rate, do you consider this wealth and employment gap to be a serious problem? do you think that a rising tide for the overall economy will actually red

dr. elmendorf of the congressional budget office. chairman bernankes said that economist paul santa mail has said we have a fist will cancer that could threaten our nation, that's a paraphrase, i don't have the quote in front of me. but already we're looking at levels of debt to gdp going from 40% of the economy to 90%. were looking at a budget that's going to triple the national debt over the next 10 years. we're look at almost a trillion dollars interest payment alone at the end of the decade. and so, the question i have when everybody from the cbo to omb, to the president director of onset is an unsustainable fiscal path. why not give one of these $50,000 that you are earned or incentive to do is supposed to pay off the national debt? >> if i see no enthusiastic takers of the payment, i will yield back. >> the gentleman from illinois will have the final questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my last question was one of the things i hear from my constituent services in my district is those people who have been trying to get three months, a number of