PRESTOPUNDIT -- "It's a team sport, baby!"

Paul Volcker is dead, long live Ben Bernanke:

"There is no immediate threat of deflation in the U.S. economy," Fed Board Governor Ben Bernanke told reporters in Tokyo after a speech at an academic gathering. "The concern is that inflation may become uncomfortably low .. It's an issue of making sure that the inflation rate stays within an appropriate range," he said.

And Bernanke on Japan .. that old-time Keynesian snake oil will do it this time:

Bernanke said the BOJ should aim for reflation -- a period of rising prices above the long-term preferred rate of inflation that would eventually bring prices to where they would have been if there had been modest inflation in recent years. "A period of reflation would also likely provide a boost to profits and help to break the deflationary psychology among the public, which would be positive factors for asset prices as well," he said.

Posted by Greg Ransom