Bernanke Delivers a Shot Across the Dow

Unlike his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, Big Ben speaks with a layman's tongue; however, the verbiage is intense as far as these things go.  The speech—and you can read the full transcript here—covered a wide range of topics and was intended to provide transparency and perhaps—perhaps—a wink on what’s to come.

I'll leave out my first observation—the magical morph from "we don't target asset prices" (Greenspan) to "we closely monitor asset prices" (Bernanke)—as that's a whole 'nother ball of wax and focus on the here, now, and perhaps, our next steps.