I am not panicked – I am just amazed. What really amazes me is the public completely oblivious to this shift. They will go to get financing and have no options. It will be rough until either the credit gets repriced appropriately or new “innovative” products come out.

Consumer apathy doesn’t mean things are OK – only 48% of eligible Americans voted last election – doesn’t mean its not important.

I will be OK – you will be OK – I know this. I’m worried for joe homeowner down the street with his 2 kids and exploding ARM payment. We’re swamped with business and guess what – it’s all 2/28’s coming due with borrowers looking at 12-14% rates coming out of their fixed period. The lucky ones can get a new loan ~10%.

I am sitting in Panera right now and the people around me are talking about vacations, building plans, their new refrigerator, and “date night”. Clearly, there is a world that is oblivious to what is scaring you.

We’ll all be okay in the long-run — it’s a just a temporary panic because there is an absence of information. Kind of like when your servers went down…

I agree that he is an academic and brilliant. He was brought in precisely because of his extensive understanding and background in the Great Depression (which could become amazingly ironic) and that he is a well-educated man who has risen to a very power post.

I just can’t believe you can go on TV and lie to Congress. I agree that you can’t incite financial panic and destroy the confidence of the financial markets by throwing out “sky is falling” comments but at least a little of the “we’ll be monitoring the situation closely to help alleviate any potential market disruptions that may be loosely correlated with any negative events in the mortgage market” might be more appropriate, and accurate

If Bernanke is so smart than he willingly went up there and lied and knew all along the markets were in for a beating.

He talks about containing inflation EXPECTATIONS. Not inflation, but expectations.

So his job is to lie, if he must. Like Bush and Paulson, he must say it’s contained, the worst is over, the economy is strong and can handle volatility. If he said it’s out of the box, the worst is yet to come, and the chaos is scaring the heck out of him, those very words would make the markets seize up and plunge.

The question is: how can he be transparent, without inciting panic?

The market must function on its own recognition, not on the basis of his revealing the problems.

In my opinion, he should say, “the Fed is able to deal with anything that comes our way”, or “we do not comment on financial situations, because the market must find its own way”.

When he so obviously lies, I lose all faith in him. And Paulson, and Bush. I just think they look like total fools now, for lying to us and saying all is well just a week before it all collapsed. Who can trust anything they say now?

At issue is the total loss of their credibility. It’s gone.