They tell us that Ben Bernanke is an expert student of the depression era economics. I cannot agree with the "may never have read a history book" statement.

The economy is recovering slowly. Personally I think Bernanke was overly aggressive in bringing on the recession. Alan Greenspan would have dealt with real estate excesses by jawboning and Bernanke could have achieved his goals with a 5% reduction in real estate values. His 20% reduction collapsed the market, crashed the banks, and wiped out the equity of numerous homeowners. Secondary effects wiped out retirement accounts and savings.

Rebuilding will take a while, but the current trend looks ok to me.

Hawks still think we should cut spending aggressively, reduce deficits, and even pay down the national debt. To do that now would mean even higher unemployment, possibly deflation, and cause still more pain for the middle class and the poor.

If you worry about inflation, hard assets like gold, land, minerals in the ground, collectibles like art, antiques, stamps, coins, etc, can be the right move. But in each case, you must know the market well enough to buy them right.

For most individuals the best you can do is buy good quality stocks especially in industry leaders who can pass on rising costs to their customers. Dividend paying stocks can be an excellent strategy, but again you must pick them right. Companies that can prosper in the conditions you describe.