Bernanke defends bond buys, citing at-risk economy

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is stepping up his resistance of the Fed's $600 billion Treasury bond-purchase plan; proverb the economy is still stressed to become "self-sustaining" without government help.

In a taped conference with CBS' "60 Minutes" that aired Sunday night, Bernanke also argued that Congress shouldn't cut expenditure or boost taxes given how fragile the economy remains.

The Fed chairman said he thinks another depression is unlikely. Other than he warned that the economy could suffer a hold up if persistently high being without a job dampens consumer spending.

The conference is part of a broad counterattack Bernanke has been waging against critics of the bond purchase plan the Fed announce Nov. 3. The purchases are intended to lower long-term interest rates, lift stock prices and give confidence more spending to boost the economy.

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Fed boss: Regulators looking into foreclosure mess

Federal banking regulator are examining whether advance companies cut corners on their own procedures when they moved to exclude on people's homes, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday.

Beginning results of the in-depth appraisal into the practices of the nation's largest mortgage companies are expected to be at large next month, Bernanke said in remarks to a housing-finance discussion in Arlington, Va.

"We are looking intensively at the firms' policies, events and internal controls related to foreclosures and seeking to determine whether systematic weaknesses are leading to shocking foreclosures," Washington: Bernanke said. "We take contravention of proper procedures very critically," he added.

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