Bernanke: Overhaul the Tax Code

Fed chief Ben Bernanke wandered into the realm of fiscal policy in a 60 Minutes interview broadcast Sunday night, recommending an overhaul of the tax code and lamenting the country’s rising inequality. “The tax code is very inefficient,” Bernanke said. “By closing loopholes and lowering rates, you could increase the efficiency of the tax code and create more incentives for people to invest.” He also predicted that it may be four or five years until the unemployment rate returns to normal—but in the meantime, he said, jobless rates for college graduates and high-school graduates are far too disparate. “It leads to an unequal society, and a society which doesn’t have the cohesion that we’d like to see.” Elsewhere, Bernanke brushed off inflation fears and vigorously defended the Fed’s $600 billion bond-buying stimulus.