Wall Street Journal (27 Apr 11) – The Federal Reserve used its first-ever news conference to signal it will phase out a controversial bond-buying program—and to reassure a skeptical public that the central bank is doing everything it can to control inflation and expand an uneven recovery that has yet to reach many Americans.

“It is very hard to blame the American public for being impatient,” Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a former economics professor, told about 60 reporters at Wednesday’s one-hour news conference, which was transmitted on the Internet and televised. “Conditions are far from where we would like them to be. The combination of high unemployment, high gas prices and high foreclosure rates is a terrible combination and a lot of people are having a very tough time.”

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