Ben Bernanke is supposed to be an expert on the Great Depression, but since he is a True Believer in Milton Friedman’s hypothesis that the problem was the Fed not providing enough liquidity, I’m not sure his expertise is worth anything.

Bernanke still is spouting the mantra that the bailouts can prevent a recession. No, Ben, they will delay the recession, which means it will be much, much worse than it would have been had you permitted the original malinvestments to run their course.

Of course, it also means that the Fed effectively will block the recovery. Not a happy situation.