Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and the one responsible for U.S. monetary policy, went to Capitol Hill to claim in this video interview that he believes the current recession will end in 2009. Of course that's with a host of caveats, the most obvious being if "actions taken by the administration, Congress, and the Federal Reserve are successful in establishing...financial stability."

So, if the stimulus works, the recession will end? Thank you, Captain Obvious.

Unfortunately, the Believability Meter isn't convinced that there is in fact "a reasonable prospect" that 2010 will be a year of recovery. Bernanke went on to say he doesn't "see any reason" to nationalize the troubled banks, but the Believability Meter thinks he may see quite a few reasons. How can the same government meddling that caused this crisis hope to suddenly fix it?