On 12/12/12, Ben Bernanke announced a continuation of Quantitative Easing (aka money printing). John Williams at shadowstats.com made the comment:
“The problem remains banking-system solvency; 2008 still is playing out. The Fed’s purported effort at attacking the weak economy (specifically unemployment), with debt monetization is nothing more than political cover for helping the banks.”
John further stated:
“With no economic recovery in place or pending, and with the financial system and markets unable to survive withdrawal symptoms, ever-expanding QE3 likely will continue until such time as the U.S. dollar collapses in a hyperinflation. Effectively, this was a decision that was made at the time of the panic in 2008, in an effort to avert an immediate systemic collapse, to buy some time.”
I recommend a subscription to www.shadowstats.com for all of you economists that want to keep abreast of the uncooked government statistics.