Bernanke to Grads: Get Dirty and Call Mom

Jon Hilsenrath:

Everyone wants to psychoanalyze Ben Bernanke these days. Does he want another term as chairman of the Federal Reserve? Is he preparing to walk off into the sunset when his current term ends next January? What is his secret motive for skipping the Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming this year?

In that vein, his unusually personal and wistful commencement address at Princeton University Sunday afternoon is sure to be closely scrutinized for hidden meaning. But let's leave the psychobabble to unqualified bond traders and take the speech for what it is: His best graduation address as a public official.

Mr. Bernanke -- a former Princeton economics professor -- has delivered his share of clunkers before, such as a 2008 address to Harvard students about inflation, which was panned in the Harvard Crimson.

Others have been thoughtful but wound up rather dry, such as a recent talk on innovation and the economy's long-run growth prospects at Bard College at Simon Rock.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 7, 2013 12:57 AM
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