According to a story by the Chicago Tribune, Bernanke has recently expanded his powers as chairman quite dramatically, and is looking to expand them even further.

Bernanke recently proposed that the Reserve’s blanket of authority be greatly expanded - and everything it would cover would be under his jurisdiction. He’s also been responsible for a number of high-profile financial decisions and cut interest rates across the board quite sharply.

At the moment its all been deemed as necessary in helping keep the U.S. economy, which has been floundering of late, afloat. But what will these expanded powers - for an unelected official, no less - mean in the future?

Obama met with the two men in the last few days both over the phone and in person and discussed the matter of the U.S. economy problems, including the ongoing recession that’s keeping the economy looking a bit abysmal.

Obama noted that he suggested a stimulus package to help get the market going again, but neither man directly replied to the suggestion. Obama confirmed that they don’t seem to have a specific strategy that they wish to share to the world in general, and that he approves of such a strategy.

But what is Macroeconomics? Bernanke deals with it close to exclusively, so there must be a lot to it (very true, that). Put simply, Macroeconomics looks at an economy on a wide scale: it studies behavior and monetary movement on the part of entire regions or nations. To do this macroeconomists take accumulated indicators (like the GDP or any kind of price indices) and study them to discover how a given economy works.

What’s the difference with Microeconomics? It’s mainly size. Microeconomics concerns itself with individual dealers and companies.

Want to learn more? Try the textbook. Bernanke knows what he’s talking about.

In short the chairman is in charge of the central banking system of the United States. It’s his job to lead the Reserve in making decisions on interest rates and control the rate at which currency is both destroyed and created on a daily basis.

The interest rates are of key importance to American investors. The slightest rise or dip can send shock waves through the economic community for years to come. And whenever Bernanke makes an announcement of coming changes he profoundly affects movement on the stock market.

Besides that, Bernanke is responsible for meeting with Congress twice a year to discuss financial changes, and he must meet with the Secretary of the Treasury periodically to discuss the flow of American economics.

In a nutshell inflation targeting is a policy wherein a central bank – in other words, the institution responsible for setting money policy for the rest of the parts of the country, in the case of the United States those same states – estimates and makes public a set – or target – inflation rate, and then tries to steer the inflation rate towards that target, mainly through using interest rates among other things at their disposal.

Why would anybody bother with this? Especially Ben Bernanke? Well, Bernanke is the current chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, so he’s heavy into economics. As for the rest of the country, however, if you have a set inflation rate that’s basically confirmed by the central bank then it’s much easier to calculate interest rates.

Ben Bernanke, born in 1953, is yet another American economist, and is currently serving as the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, succeeding Alan Greenspan. More conservative than Greenspan, he prefers to keep his policies outside the sphere of politics, which many people find laudable. He’s doing a good job of things in the Reserve so far.

Together, the Bernanke Blinder duo worked to come up with a banking model in 1988. They wanted to simplify the system and managed to come up with a model that introduced equilibrium to economic matters.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is a Harvard graduate, former Princeton University professor, and author of two books. Considered one of the world’s best economists, Bernanke is most known recently for his dramatic cuts in key interest rates designed to stimulate a slowing US economy.

Bernanke was nominated by President George W. Bush to succeed Alan Greenspan in late 2005. Bernanke was sworn in as the US housing market was beginning to undergo a crisis. Many homeowners had taken on mortgages in which interest rates were beginning to rise beyond many borrowers’ ability to pay. These loans are referred to as “Adjustable Rate Mortgages”.

The slowdown in the housing market caused many banks to restrict credit to consumers, making it hard for borrowers to obtain low interest rates for car and home loans. With the economy slowing at an alarming rate, Bernanke announced a plan to keep economic markets stable. The Federal Reserve cut the Federal fund interest rate, which allows banks to pay less interest to borrow from each other. Bernanke hopes this rate cut will allow consumers more access to credit in the future, and have a stimulating effect on the economy.

Not much is known about Anna Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke’s wife. Born Anna Friedmann, her birthplace and date are not yet known.

Anna attended both Wellesly College and Stanford university before becoming Ben Bernanke’s wife on May 29, 1978. Four years later, Ben and Anna had their first child, Joel A. Bernanke on December 5, 1982. Allyssa Gale Bernanke was born shortly thereafter, on June 21, 1986. Anna is currently a Spanish teacher at the National Cathedral School in the Bernankes’ home state of Washington, D.C., where they moved from the Montgomery Township of New Jersey.

When Ben Bernanke succeeded Alan Greenspan as chairman of the federal reserve in the fall of 2006, he said of his wife and family, “I’d like to thank my family in attendance, especially my wife… they’ve supported my through the ups and downs.”