Bernanke defends Fed actions on GFC

THEN Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke speaks of his reaction to Lehman's collapse and the central bank's actions in the face of the GFC.

FORMER Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says the US economy is outperforming Europe at the moment because the Fed moved more quickly and aggressively to fight the 2008 financial crisis than Europe did.

BERNANKE, writing an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, said that US economic output is 8.9 per cent higher than its previous peak before the recession. That is "an enormous difference" from the Eurozone, where output is only 0.8 per cent higher than its previous peak.