Video: Ben Bernanke Interview on 60 Minutes (sans ironic Chase ad)

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke conducted a post-QE 2 interview on CBS's 60 Minutes program last night (his June 2009 60 Minutes interview can be viewed here).

One similarity and one difference between the two 60 Minutes interviews:

1. Similarity: he still gets nervous when speaking on television (and in front of Congress for that matter).
2. Difference: Bernanke is no longer willing to acknowledge that he's "printing money". In fact, Bernanke now denies it:

"One myth that’s out there is that what we’re doing is printing money. We’re not printing money. The amount of currency in circulation is not changing. The money supply is not changing in any significant way."

The below chart, however, suggests otherwise.

Chart courtesy of Felix Salmon.

So why is Bernanke denying that he's printing money when the Fed has clearly expanded the money supply? Semantics. And why would Bernanke start playing word games now? Because Bernanke has chosen to get political, and in politics semantics matter.

Later on in the interview Bernanke, for the first time, dips his toe into the government fiscal debate currently underway in Congress over tax cuts, the deficit, entitlements, etc. Whether you agree if this is or is not appropriate for a Fed Chairman (or with Bernanke's politics) is not necessarily the most important element here. The change in what Bernanke is openly speaking out about compared to what he's previously remained mum on is perhaps the key observation.

Every single word uttered by a Federal Reserve Chairman is carefully considered and reviewed before being communicated publicly. The reason: the Fed Chairman's words can have a powerful effect on investor psychology and global financial markets. Is it this pressure to stay on script which is making Bernanke so nervous when he knows he's on TV? I haven't spent time with Bernanke in private so unfortunately I can't compare how he communicates in a more informal setting with how he is on television.

Appropriately, the CBS online video version of the interview features an ad for a new Chase Bank card called "Slate", which gives the interview a "Ben Bernanke, brought to you tonight by Chase CEO Jamie Dimon" quality. Appropriate perhaps, and also hard to believe Too 'Bigger' to Fail Dimon wanted his advertising budget used for such rich irony.

I hope you won't mind my sparing you from being subjected to Chase marketing, which is excluded in the below YouTube version of Bernanke's interview.