In staying in sync with the chairwoman-to-be, Chairman Bernanke spoke at the Herb Stein Memorial Lecture and provided support for Ms. Yellen’s Senate Banking Committee testimony. It appears that the FED certainly wants to reduce the role of large-scale asset purchases (QE) by beginning to emphasize the importance of FORWARD GUIDANCE. In the beginning of the speech Bernanke stated: “Indeed, expectations matter so much that a central bank may be able to help make policy more effective by working to shape those expectations. Experience demonstrates that a useful approach to managing expectations … involves policy makers stating clear objectives as well as their plans for attaining those objectives.” The importance of forward guidance as a Fed tool resulted in the failure of the central bank to hits its previously announced time-based expectations. Each time the Fed put forth a date for possible ending the present policy, the economy failed to adhere to the Fed’s time-table.