Congress to Grill Bernanke on Bear Stearns

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke steps onto a tightrope today for two days of Congressional testimony focusing on the central bank’s starring role in the Bear Stearns bailout. Bernanke likely will be taken to task for not stepping in earlier, and more forcefully, to avert economic chaos, reports the New York Times.

Bernanke is expected to explain the Fed’s reaction to the meltdown in detail; but experts say he’ll be cautious to avoid inflaming investor concerns further over a still-shaky economy. Nevertheless, reports the Wall Street Journal, Bernanke plans to testify that the US economy likely won't grow "much, if at all, over the first half of 2008 and could even contract slightly." (More Ben Bernanke stories.)