Ben Bernanke says the most important thing Congress can do to fix the US economy is to provide help to state and local governments . In a column in the New York Times, Bernanke said the lack of sufficient support for state and local governments was the biggest mistake made during the Great Recession, and he's afraid that Congress is in danger of repeating that mistake. Bernanke was the chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Great Recession and an academic expert of the Great Depression. State and local government have already shed 1.5 million jobs since February, according to Labor Department figures. More jobs ... (full story)