Ben Bernanke Wants to Know: Are You Happy?
- Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:01pm by
Erica Ritz
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Ben Bernanke (Photo: AP)
(The Blaze/AP) — Ben Bernanke wants to know if you are happy.
The Federal Reserve chairman said Monday that gauging happiness can be as important for measuring economic progress as determining whether inflation is low or unemployment high. Economics isn’t just about money and material benefits, he asserted. It’s also about understanding and promoting “the enhancement of well-being.”
Bernanke and Fed policymakers rely on reports on hiring, consumer spending and other economic data when making high-stakes decisions about the $15 trillion U.S. economy, but according to Bernanke, “we should seek better and more-direct measurements of economic well-being,” as well.
(Related: Ron Paul‘s ’Audit the Fed’ Bill Passes Easily in the House)
In a video-taped speech for a conference of economists and statisticians in Cambridge, Mass. Monday, Bernanke said promoting well-being is “the ultimate objective of our policy decisions,” while acknowledging that many people aren’t very happy right now.
Unemployment rose in July to 8.3 percent, and economic growth has slowed sharply from the start of the year. The Federal Reserve Chairman called the recovery “frustratingly slow” when he testified to Congress on July 17. Regardless, aggregate statistics can mask important information about how individual Americans are faring, Bernanke says.
Here is video of his speech, via the Federal Reserve:
Bernanke’s speech Monday was the latest foray into a relatively new specialty in economics known as “happiness studies” that he brought to the public’s attention in 2010.
At the time, he said that research has found that once basic material needs are met, more wealth doesn’t necessarily make people happier.
“Or, as your parents always said, money doesn’t buy happiness,” Bernanke explained. “Well, an economist might reply, at least not by itself.”
In his remarks, Bernanke reportedly focused on the more practical – and difficult – task of measuring a subjective emotion. So far, most efforts have involved surveys in which people are asked about whether they are happy and what contributes to their happiness.
Those surveys have found some consistent answers: physical and mental health, the strength of family and community ties, a sense of control over one’s life, and opportunities for leisure activity.
The Kingdom of Bhutan has been tracking happiness for four decades. The tiny Himalayan nation stopped tracking gross national product in 1972 and instead switched to measuring Gross National Happiness.
Perhaps, on the heels of Elizabeth Warren’s suggestion that America become more like China, Ben Bernanke will soon suggest America become more like Bhutan.
(Photo: Getty Images)
On Monday, Bernanke sketched out a few other questions he would like to know: How secure do Americans feel in their jobs? How confident are Americans in their future job prospects? How prepared are families for financial shocks?
These indicators “could be useful in measuring economic progress or setbacks as well as in explaining economic decision-making,” he explained.
So how does Bernanke define happiness? According to the Associated Press, his definition “might baffle some.”
He called it a “short-term state of awareness that depends on a person‘s perceptions of one’s immediate reality, as well as on immediate external circumstances and outcomes.”
It’s not exactly how the classic comic strip Peanuts described it when it said, “Happiness is a warm puppy,” but perhaps Bernanke’s version can be more easily measured in surveys.
Either way– Bernanke will likely receive some criticism for worrying about how “happy” people are in the current economy, when he clearly has a hard enough time with his given job of managing low inflation and full employment.
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Comments (80)
Jim
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:43amHey Ben, I’d be more happy if I had a job!
Report Post »Shiroi Raion
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:46amditto
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 1:10amNo, you know what Ben, I’m pretty &@#%ing pissed…..this country should have 16 trillion in the bank instead of putting our kids 16 trillion in the hole…..to pay for wages and benefits and retirements of worthless government leeches…..who spend 600 thousand on studies to figure out why monkeys throw poop……no, I’m pissed off….and I VOTE…..and I’m about f&@#%ng DONE……..POS.
Report Post »MCDAVE
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 10:53amHe seems to be mocking us..like Obama who’s attacks are focused on conservative people
Report Post »KURT1010
Posted on August 8, 2012 at 6:51amDitto aaion ! He has a smile like he just passed some gas !
Report Post »oicu814me2
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:35amI will be happy when our countries liberty is restored.
Report Post »stuharnden
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:30amHey Ben,
Report Post »I have a little story I want to tell you I am one happy camper today. This morning I spotted a skunk out by the hen house, I ran and got my pistol and ran out of the house. not knowing that my wife had spotted the same skunk. As I ran out to the hen house I crossed my wife’s line of fire with her 4-10. Needles to say I am a bigger target than the skunk . I probably only took 10 or 12 buckshot, as I was trying to stop yelling at my wife to hold her fire, I turned and the skunk squirted on me. Here I am with buckshot in my butt smelling like a skunk trying to pick out the buckshot, my wife hollering are you all right, of course I am “happy”. she came out with a jug of tomato juice to pour on me saying “this will get rid of the smell”. I dumped the tomato juice on my head and told her to get me my bottle of gin and I could have a Bloody Mary. After getting the gin poured in a tin cup laying on the ground, my dog came along along and drank it. She started to run around me in circles and ended up peeing on my leg. But I am still happy about as happy as I will be if Obama gets another term and keeps you on board DON”T WORRY BE HAPPY I AM!!!
dublinthewagons
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 6:57amIf Obama is reelected. You might want to save the tomato juice to wash down the skunk you have to eat. Isn’t communism wonderful? Kinda like living with the I laws and having your back broken.
Report Post »You can neither fun nor fight. Just lay there and take it.
RRFlyer
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:23amYes, in spite of everything Obama is doing to try to stop it, I am very happy. I retired 6 years ago, have a new house, the same wife for 47 years, good health, in fact just lost 40 pounds of my “retirement” weight gain and it wasn’t hard.
Report Post »I Love God, I love America, it will stand against all odds including the current oppressors in the white house.
I don‘t want to spend the last years of my life full of Hate and I won’t let the current situation do it to me.
seeker9
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:19amUh oh. An academic, sitting in an office 1000 miles away determining happiness. This could be really bad folks.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 9:01amThank goodness we now may have government to determine our happiness. I don’t know what we would do without them. Although, I sure would like to find out.
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:03am…
Report Post »Ben Bernanke wants to know if I’m happy.
My answer, not right now, but I will be on November 7th.
Gonzo
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 9:47amI hope you are, I really do.
Report Post »KidCharlemagne
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:03amI’m not happy with $3.50/gal. gas and rising food prices again, that’s for sure.
Report Post »stuharnden
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:02amHi Ben,
I am so damm happy I will probably laugh myself to death!!
O’Lord, O’Bummer, Obama
Report Post »michael7695
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:00amThe Illuminati take lots of LSD. Ben is so far gone that he forgot what reality in which he is supposed to be.
Report Post »psadie
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:53pmThis guy is too stupid for words. GET THE HELL OUT. You superior braniacs don’t know what the hell you are doing! You call yourselves professionals? GONE IN NOVEMBER.
Report Post »db321
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:03amHe is a complete idiot! When he took office, he instantly raised the prime 9 months in a row and brought America to it knees – History will not be nice on this- idiot a total flake.
Report Post »wvernon1981
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:07amNo. You’re just too ignorant or lack the intelligence to understand what he was talking about or lack the cognitive tendencies to actually ponder ideas foreign to yourself.
Report Post »Mutiny
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 12:53amhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2t0LjX1gBA&feature=relmfu Romney on Bernanke.
Report Post »SCREW-WINDOWS
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 4:14amThey are better known as over educated shiite heads.
Report Post »Micmac
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:51pmAnd what does he propose when he finds out people are unhappy? This man is desperate if he has to go to this length.
On another note, where is Romney’s definitive solution for getting the country back to work and to change course away from the Orwellian system we are falling towards? He’s still a closed book, just as NoBama was when he was elected. Scary times.
NoBama > MoBama
Report Post »JUSTANOTHEROPINION
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:50pmWhen we fire Obama we need to fire his donkey butt too.
Report Post »RetiredAmericanNavyTaxpayer
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:48pmHey Benny, bite me !!
Report Post »Therightsofbilly
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:47pmHappy?????
We’re all having so much f$*#in fun we need plastic surgery to remove our damn smiles. We‘re all whistling ’Zip-A-Dee Doo-Dah’ out of our a$$ wholes.
Thank you Clark Griswold.
Report Post »OperationNorthwoods
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:43pmMaybe Ben could print a couple billion for everyone to get free prozac.
Report Post »TerryDo
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:39pmWith all of this misery happening to millions of citizens:
No jobs
8.3% Unemployment over 40 months
(count those who’ve just dropped out of work force – 22%)
800,000 work Visas to illegals
Shovel ready jobs not shovel ready
More people on Food Stamps under Obama than any other President at tax payer expense
Do you Bernanke,think all these people who are affected by this devastation are happy, can your happiness gage discern their level of happiness?
Report Post »Their answer would probably be a resounding NO!
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:32pmDear Ben,
I am doing fine, I don’t owe anyone any money. I have plenty of savings and security and I am doing fine. I am very happy, but if Barry gets another term, I will be very sad. So Ben, if you are genuine with your question, please vote for Romney, at least with Mitt, I might have a little more hope about the change.
Your Friend, Darmok
PS
Please stop spending for a week, I know you are addicted, but for the love of Pete, see a therapist, or as Sean Connery says “The Rapist”.
Suck it Trebeck.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:29pmNope — not a happy camper.
I am not happy w/the divisive politics the current administration is playing.
I am not happy abt the dismal state of the economy.
I am not happy abt the porous border and amnesty for illegals.
I am not happy abt the real inflation that I experience at the grocery, gas pump, and Wal-Mart.
I am not happy abt the lack of a realistic foreign policy.
I am not happy we are trying to make the eternal mess Afghanistan a real functioning country despite its own desire to remain a medieval mess.
I am not happy abt a debt that continues to spiral out of control.
I am not happy that Congress can’t get its job done. Time for term limits on the buzzards, eating us who are now road kill.
The one thing I am happy abt is that God is good no matter how stupid we are.
Report Post »BeeDee
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:40pmAmen to that!
Report Post »cannon12pdr
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:25pmI would rather see him sealed in one of the reserve vaults with nothing to eat is his worthless script and red ink to drink.
Report Post »ksdvm86
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:25pmHE is really beginning to sound like Alice in Wonderland-
Report Post »team1blazer
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:20pmBen Bernanke is a liar, cheat and thief. WHEN the system that he has helped decieve the American people finally collapses, It hope that I am there to watch his sorry self be tarred and feathered….or something much worse. This despicable excuse for a human being deserves to rot in the sewer he has helped create.
Report Post »SCREW-WINDOWS
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:19pmWhen polling people who you going to believe the attendee’s at the Obama fundraiser or the mass of homeless living in the alley.
Report Post »KC1
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:45pmTo bad both of these candidates will keep the masses of home less right where they are. Both Romney and Obama support Bernakes policies of QE, artificially low interest rates and bailing out failed companies ie TARP.
Report Post »But your as happy as can be with your head stuck in the sand eh window.
SCREW-WINDOWS
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:54pmWho rattled your chain ?
Report Post »Dougral Supports Israel
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:19pmHappiness might be a warm puppy if I could train him to pee on Bernanke’s shoes. What kind of idiot is this man? I see my country being dismantled before my eyes, debt being stacked to the ceiling and decisions being made by idiots and I should be happy?
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:17pmAt the time, he said that research has found that once basic material needs are met, more wealth doesn’t necessarily make people happier.
“Or, as your parents always said, money doesn’t buy happiness,” Bernanke explained. “Well, an economist might reply, at least not by itself.”
WITHOUT THE POLITISPEAK…………………………GET USED TO NOT HAVING AS MUCH MONEY AS MY POLICIES WILL ENSURE YOU WONT
Report Post »foxdogs
Posted on August 7, 2012 at 8:27amActually, the end result may be that you have more money. Bernanke’s current policy of printing money historically always results in runaway inflation. When that hits you will have plenty of money but each dollar will be close to worthless.
Report Post »team1blazer
Posted on August 6, 2012 at 11:14pmOne thing that would make me very happy is to see this socialist hanging from a tree.
Report Post »