joining me right now to talk than, randy kroszner is the former federal reserve governor and current professor at the university of chicago booth school of business. and jim mcaughan is ceo of principle global investors with $280 billion in assets under gentlemen, it's good to have you on the program. thank you so much for joining us. >> sure. >> so many stories to talk about. jim, every time the dow sets a new high, it's a new record. we have known corporate america is strong, sitting on all of this cash. but is this telling us now that the economy is stronger than we think, or is this just because the federal reserve has created an environment where there just are very few alternatives to owning u.s. stocks? >> i believe the reasons that the stock market has been pretty strong this year, and as you say, maria, been hitting new highs is that the u.s. private sector and the corporate sector in particular is in really good shape. the factors i would point to is here in the united states we have by global standards cheap and plentiful energy, both oil and natural gas, that we have inno

randy kroszner, the former federal reserve governor and former professor at the university of chicago school of business. jim mccaughan. gentlemen, good to have you on the program. thanks for joining us. so much to talk about. jim, every time the dow sets a new high it's a new record. we know corporate america is strong sitting on all this cash. is this telling us the economy is stronger than we think or is this just because the federal reserve has created an environment where there just are very if you alternatives to owning u.s. stocks. >> i believe the reason that the stock market has been pretty strong this year, and as you say, maria, hitting new highs, is the u.s. private sector and corporate sector in particular is in really good shape. the factors i would point to, here in the united states we have by global standards cheap and plentiful energy, both oil and natural gas. we have innovation and productivity. the economy is currently producing at an all-time high level in terms of gdp but 4 million, 5 million people less employed than before the recession. the productivity and i

let's go to randy kroszner, former federal reserve governor, professor of economics, university of chicago'sool of business, as always, randy, thank you. randy, some of your -- some of the board members, jerome stein, getting cold feet on this easy money in bond-buying. cold feet, i call it. so does the strength of the economy change the feds' view? >> over time it will, but i don't think quite yet. we have seen these green chutes before back in early 2010, 2011. unfortunately, they wilted by the time summer came around. and they needed more support. so i think the fed is going to be very wary of pulling things back before they really see these green chutes take root. >> so basically, you're expecting mr. bernanke to be very firm. i don't just mean the fomc minutes, but tomorrow's news conference. he's going to be very firm. is that what you're saying? firm, meaning firm, easy money, for as far as the eye can see. >> i think he's going to acknowledge the economy has gotten better. we see stronger consumption, we see better employment numbers. but he's also going to talk about the risks, whet