Bernanke urges lawmakers to act on economy

U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers in Washington Tuesday that key sectors of the economy were a "shared responsibility." Bernanke presented a dour outlook on the state of the U.S. economy, The New York Times reported. Bernanke said, "the recovery is close to faltering." He also said, "The recovery from the crisis has been much less robust than we hoped." When it came to solutions, Bernanke said the central bank had options left. However, "monetary policy can be a powerful tool but it is not a panacea for the problems currently faced by the U.S. economy." Bernanke told members of the Joint Economic Committee. "We need to make sure that the recovery continues and doesn't drop back," he said, but "Fostering health growth and job creation is as shared responsibility of all economic policy makers." He urged the legislative branch to take action on key issues, such as high unemployment, the stalled housing market, federal debt and taxation, the Times said.