U.S. Federal Reserve

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said Wednesday that bond buying and other steps by the Fed are still an option if the economy should weaken. (Associated Press)

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke speaks during a news conference at the Fed headquarters in Washington on Wednesday, April 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

** FILE ** In a Feb. 2, 2012, file photo Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the House Budget Committee. The Federal Reserve will have plenty to say about the economy Wednesday, April 25, 2012, when its two-day policy meeting ends. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster/file)

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**FILE** Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testifies Feb. 2, 2012, on Capitol Hill before the House Budget Committee. (Associated Press)

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke speaks at the 2012 Financial Markets Conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta at the Stone Mountain Evergreen Convention Center outside Atlanta on Monday, April 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal & Constitution, Phil Skinner)

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"The Great Depression informed the Fed's actions and decisions in the recent crisis," Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said at George Washington University, noting the Fed's multiple missteps during the 1930s in failing to stem the financial panics, bank runs and economic downspiral that created such desperate conditions. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke takes part in a news conference Jan. 25, 2012, at the William McChesney Martin Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington. (Associated Press)

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the House Budget Committee on Feb. 2, 2012, is visible on a television screen on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (Associated Press)

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Budget Committee on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke takes part in a news conference at the William McChesney Martin Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, following the January Federal Open Market Committee meeting. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

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Illustration: Federal Reserve by Alexander Hunter for The Washington Times

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With the Washington Monument behind them, protesters, calling for the end of the Federal Reserve, march Oct. 9, 2011, to the Federal Reserve in Washington. (Associated Press)

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CASH TO BURN: Occupy D.C. protesters call for an end to the Federal Reserve in front of the financial institution on Sunday as one protester burns a dollar bill. (Associated Press)

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Jean Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, whose position has less direct authority than that of the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman, has had to build consensus among the member nations of the eurozone in the debt crisis. He steps down this month after eight years at the ECB's helm. (Associated Press)

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Protester Barry Freed with Occupy DC holds a sign that reads "End the FED" and wears a Guy Fox mask as he marches with hundreds of protesters in Washington, DC. (Andrew Harnik / The Washington Times)

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Protester Barry Freed with Occupy DC holds a sign that reads "End the FED" and wears a Guy Fox mask as he marches with hundreds of protesters, upset about a variety of issues from the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to corporate greed, along K Street in NW Washington, DC, October 6, 2011. (Andrew Harnik / The Washington Times)

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Protester Barry Freed with Occupy DC holds a sign that reads "End the FED" and wears a Guy Fox mask with hundreds of other protesters upset about a variety of issues from the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to corporate greed outside the Chamber of Commerce building in NW Washington, DC, October 6, 2011. (Andrew Harnik / The Washington Times)