Fed Chairman Bernanke Delivers Grim Economic News to Governors

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The National Governors Association meeting was held this weekend in Washington with loyal oppositionists (to wit, hard-line Republicans) taking to the airwaves to criticize President Obama's stimulus package as misguided, bloated, and not targeted enough.

There is some truth to that. Meanwhile, moderate GOP governors (Schwarzenegger, Crist) said they supported the president's attempts to right the economy.

I covered part of the conference this weekend and spoke with one Democratic governor who was quite upbeat while on the record. Off the record, this governor described Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's private briefing for the governors on the future of the economy as "quite depressing." So depressing, in fact, that this governor said other governors were having trouble peeling themselves off the floor when it was over so they could leave the room.

If Bernanke is right, it could be months and months before the economy starts to turn around. Let's hope he's wrong, way wrong, and that the recovery is about to begin.

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