CHESSNOID

I just read an AP story of what Bernanke said in a report. He thinks we are out of the woods.

Addressing a Fed conference in Chatham, Mass., on Monday night, Bernanke said a government report last week showing the unemployment rate rising from 5 percent in April to 5.5 percent in May — the biggest one-month jump in two decades — was “unwelcome.” However, the Fed chief said other forces should “provide some offset to the headwinds that still face the economy.”The Fed’s powerful doses of interest rate cuts, the government’s $168 billion stimulus package, further progress in the repair of problems in financial and credit markets, a gradual ebbing of the drag from the deep housing slump and still solid demand from abroad for U.S. exports should help the economy over the remainder of this year, he said.

Although economic activity is “likely to be weak” during the current April-to-June quarter, Bernanke said “the risk that the economy has entered a substantial downturn appears to have diminished over the past month or so.”

One of the reasons why gas is so expensive was because of his bonehead rate reductions just to try to alleviate the housing bust which he also helped to create when it became a housing bubble.

I have to assume he was on vacation last week when certain events happened. Let’s recap on the major headlines that is killing our economy from recovering right now:

Mortgage foreclosures reach record high

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. home foreclosures and mortgage delinquencies hit record highs in the first quarter as the sharp housing downturn put more American households under financial strain, data released on Thursday showed.

Nearly one in a hundred homes, or 0.99 percent, were driven into a foreclosure proceeding in the first quarter, the Mortgage Bankers Association said, up from 0.83 percent in the fourth quarter and the highest on records dating to 1979.

As the pace of failing loans quickened, the trade group said the overall share of homes in foreclosure rose to an all-time high of 2.47 percent from 2.04 percent. At the same time, the mortgage delinquency rate rose to a record 6.35 percent, suggesting foreclosures are likely to continue to mount.

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Crude hits all-time high of $139.12

Crude surged more than USD 10 per barrel touching a record USD 139.12 per barrel during trade. Prices soared as the dollar weakened after the US unemployment rate grew the most in two decades and Morgan Stanley said prices may reach USD 150 per barrel within a month.

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Average US gas price hits $4 a gallon for first time

Regular unleaded gas touched $4.005 per gallon, up from $3.988 Saturday and $3.105 a year ago, according to the American Automobile Association Fuel Gauge Report. The figure represented a national average, with many gas stations having long raised their prices above the $4 level.

AAA fuel price analyst Geoff Sundstrom said the recent rise in gas prices has already taken a toll on motorists.

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Unemployment Rate Jumps to 5.5% As Economy Continues to Shed Jobs

The U.S. unemployment rate posted its sharpest one-month increase in 22 years last month, suggesting U.S. consumers already facing a housing slump and soaring gasoline prices now confront even more pressure from a weakening jobs market.

The data, which included a fifth-straight drop in nonfarm employment, should take financial-market expectations of Federal Reserve rate increases as soon as this autumn off the table.

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This stuff we read and the things we observe in our daily lives seems to be a disconnect with what Bernanke says. With these latest headlines and no improvements in sight, I think he might want to deal with reality in real time and stop with the cheerleader positive stuff. We need plans and actions behind those plans. This recession has become severe because of people like him ignoring the obvious and making ass backward decisions.

This reminds me back in February when Bush was asked about $4.00 gas by summer.