lid on production, hand cappiy capping what may bef the biggest long-term goals, energy industry penlgs. in the end the main uncertainty to this recovery involves this man. ben bernanke and the federal reserve. >> we are getting some traction in the housing market. >> reporter: if the economy truly gains traction, when and how does the f pull back on the monetary stimulus? what happens to mortgage rates? to government debt payments? in short, can the economy survive the fed's band-aid coming off? four years after a bruising, economic crisis, no one, it seems, has a good answer for that. carl quintanilla for "nightly business report" new york. >>> here with his take on several of those issues is ken rogoff professor of economics at harvard university. hi, ken. you heard carl's report. how would you describe the health of the economy and also how we're doing in this american recovery? >> well, we have a modest recovery that's stable and i think that's encouraging people because it doesn't feel like the floor is about to fall out. on the other hand, it's not booming, either. and i'm not su