Yesterday, Bernanke spoke and people listened. The bears heard some of what they wanted to hear and the bulls heard some of what they wanted to hear. That’s not so surprising because Chairman Bernanke has done a great job “talking his book” and he gives just enough hawk squawk with an equal dose of dove love. None of it really changes the current market momentum and that is the way it should be. For as long as the market is predominantly bullish, anything he says will likely be spun into supporting the bulls. When the market was struggling as he took over last spring, he could do no right. Remember that?  Back then, I referred to him as the Whipping Boy for the market.  Every time he spoke it was not good enough for the bulls and since the market was bearish in May to July when this was going on, it didn’t change the downward trend then either.  Market bad = Ben bad.  Market good = Ben good.  That’s the way my cynical eyes see it.

But yesterday was classic “talking your book” from the new master.  When Bill Gross of Pimco makes an odd comment, he is often accused of talking his book and trying to position the gazillion dollar portfolio he runs.  The same thing happens when a fund manager spouts his “favorite names” on CNBC or Bloomberg or wherever else he can pitch his crap.  Ben is just doing the same thing on a bigger scale - his book just happens to be named “Goldilocks” and his portfolio is the famed soft landing economy.   If I didn’t know that the first edition was actually printed in 1837, I might assume that Ben was the original author of Goldilocks.  Whenever he speaks we get a mixed message of a weakening economy but optimism of a recovery or his mixed message of lesser inflation but being uncomfortable with risks of higher inflation.  Like many things in life, the more you say it the more it seems true.  With the beige book release today, it is clear that his talk yesterday was right out of its pages.  After all, beige is a shade of gold!