There are plenty of factors that will determine whether or not this recession is turning around, but one of the more important indicators for economists, and especially politicians, is consumer confidence. Basically, if consumers think things are getting better they'll start spending, they might invest and, perhaps most importantly, that ...

A recent 11,000-word article in the New Yorker on Ben Bernanke and the financial crisis describes the Federal Reserve chairman as “soft-spoken” and “incredibly quiet,” with a “retiring manner.” His work as an academic at Princeton University is portrayed as “statistics-laden” and “couched in impenetrable technical language.” His doctoral thesis ...