Dr. Bernanke or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Debt

Sir! I have a plan! - Doctor Strangelove

Looking forward, I am sure that the Committee will continue to watch the oil situation carefully. However, future monetary-policy choices will not be closely linked to the behavior of oil prices per se. - Doctor Bernanke, Ocotober 21, 2004

Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world, eh? - Doctor Strangelove

But the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. - Doctor Bernanke, November 11, 2002

Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That is the whole idea of this machine, you know.... the Doomsday machine is terrifying and simple to understand... and completely credible and convincing. - Doctor Strangelove

By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so.... - Doctor Bernanke, November 11, 2002

But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. - Doctor Strangelove

A collapse in U.S. stock prices certainly would cause a lot of white knuckles on Wall Street. But what effect would it have on the broader U.S. economy? If Wall Street crashes, does Main Street follow? Not necessarily. - Doctor Bernnake, 2000

It would not be difficult, Mein Fuhrer. Nuclear reactors could... I'm sorry, Mr. President... nuclear reactors could provide power almost indefinitely. - Doctor Strangelove

A money-financed tax cut is essentially equivalent to Milton Friedman's famous "helicopter drop" of money. - Doctor Bernanke, November 11, 2002

Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious. - Doctor Strangelove

The downside risks to growth have increased appreciably. - Doctor Bernanke, August 17, 2007