Bernanke Says Biggest Worry is That Politicians Abandon Banks

By: • Mon, Mar 16 2009, 9:43 AM

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that the recession will likely end this year unless political leaders withdraw support for efforts to stabilize the financial system.

Bernanke made the comments in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday.

Bernanke didn't offer any new information on rescue programs or economic projections. Instead, he reiterated forecasts that show the decline moderating and leveling off later this year.

"We'll see the recession coming to an end probably this year," Bernanke said. "We'll see recovery beginning next year."

Bernanke said his chief worry is that political leaders stop supporting the costly efforts that have been aimed at stabilizing the banking system.

"The biggest risk is that, you know, we don't have the political will," he said. "We don't have the commitment to solve this problem, and that we let it just continue."

"In which case, we, we can't count on recovery."

Earlier in March, Bernanke criticized the bailout of AIG and he continued to slam the company in the interview. He said he "slammed down the phone more than a few times" through the course of bailout discussions.

"It's absolutely unfair that taxpayer dollars are going to prop up a company that made these terrible bets," he said in the transcript of the interview. Still, Bernanke said the Fed had no choice because of "enormous impact" the failure of AIG would have had on the economy.

The Federal Reserve meets March 17-18 in Washington.