Bernanke, Ben

We do have a number of ways of acting; none of them are without risks or costs. We could, for example, do more securities purchases and structure them in different ways. We could cut the interest on excess reserves that we pay to banks. And as was suggested by an earlier question—several earlier questions, actually—Jon’s question about giving guidance on the balance sheet or by perhaps even giving a fixed date, you know, to define “extended period,” those are ways that we could ease further if needed.

But, of course, all of these things are somewhat untested. They have their own costs. But we'd be prepared to take additional action, obviously, if -- if conditions warranted.