Weekend Economists (Heart) the 4th Estate February 22-24, 2014

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12. TRANSCRIPTS SHOW FED AT TIMES SLOW TO GRASP CRISIS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FED_2008_TRANSCRIPTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-21-18-12-15

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve agonized in 2008 over how far to go to stop a financial crisis that threatened to cause a recession and at times struggled to recognize its speed and magnitude.

"We're crossing certain lines. We're doing things we haven't done before," Chairman Ben Bernanke said as Fed officials met in an emergency session March 10 and launched never-before-taken steps to lend to teetering Wall Street firms, among a series of unorthodox moves that year to calm investors and aid the economy.

"On the other hand, this financial crisis is now in its eighth month, and the economic outlook has worsened quite significantly."

The Fed on Friday released hundreds of pages of transcripts covering its 14 meetings during 2008 - eight regularly scheduled meetings and six emergency sessions. The Fed releases full transcripts of each year's policy meetings after a five-year lag.