In honour of the departure of Ben Bernanke as chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, here is one of the defining events of this chairmanship:

EXPLAINING QE: Bernanke sometimes struggled to explain the Fed’s large-scale asset purchases, or quantitative easing, to the public.

In the March 2009 interview on “60 Minutes,” asked if the Fed’s programs were spending tax dollars, Bernanke replied: “It’s much more akin to printing money than it is to borrowing.”

In December of 2010, Bernanke again appeared on “60 Minutes” to explain Fed policies, which by then included a second round of bond purchases.

“One myth that’s out there is that what we’re doing is printing money,” Bernanke said. “We’re not printing money.”

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