Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank is concentrating intently on reducing unemployment and projects inflation to stay under control for the foreseeable future.

For a lot of people, I know, it does not feel like the recession ever ended, even with the economy growing for two years, Bernanke said today in prepared remarks for a town hall- style meeting with soldiers at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

The event is part of Bernankes effort to explain to Americans his rationale for the central banks unprecedented bailouts of financial firms and efforts to spur economic growth. Bernanke and his colleagues are struggling to reduce unemployment stuck near 9 percent or higher for more than two years after lowering interest rates almost to zero and using unconventional tools to ease credit.

Joblessness is painfully high, with more than two- fifths of unemployed people out of work for longer than six months, by far the highest ratio since World War II, Bernanke said in comments before taking questions. These problems are very serious, and we at the Federal Reserve have been focusing intently on supporting job creation.

The Fed chief reinforced points made in his press conference last week, saying today that inflation appears to be moderating after spikes in oil and food prices helped accelerate price increases earlier this year.

We expect, based on the best information that we have today, that it will remain reasonably close to our objective of 2 percent or a bit less for the foreseeable future, Bernanke said.

Third Round

Last week, Bernanke signaled additional monetary stimulus may be needed to lower U.S. joblessness, saying potential actions including a third round of securities purchases are on the table. He warned in a Nov. 2 press conference that economic improvement will probably be frustratingly slow, with policy makers forecasting a 1 percentage-point drop in the jobless rate to about 8 percent over two years.

The Fed is trying to keep borrowing costs low to support consumer purchases of homes and cars and business investment in equipment, software and facilities, Bernanke said today. The central bank will return a substantial amount of earnings on its securities holdings to the U.S. Treasury Department this year after $125 billion of payments in the last two years helped reduce the federal budget deficit, he said.

Entire Burden

Bernanke reiterated his view that the Fed was never intended to shoulder the entire burden of promoting economic prosperity, calling on other economic policy makers to help through spending and tax policy as well as labor, housing, trade and regulatory efforts.

The public’s view of Bernanke, 57, has declined in recent months, according to Bloomberg polls. Twenty-nine percent said in September they have a favorable view of the central banker against 35 percent who have an unfavorable view. That compares with the June poll, when 30 percent had a favorable view, and 26 percent had an unfavorable view.

Bernanke has also drawn fire from Republican presidential candidates, with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, businessman Herman Cain, Texas Governor Rick Perry, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Congressman Ron Paul all indicating they would appoint a new Fed chair if they won the presidency in 2012. Bernankes term as Fed chief ends in January of 2014.

Town-Hall Discussion

Since mid-2009 the Fed chief has also held a town hall- style discussion on PBS television and met with students and business executives for question-and-answer sessions. He began in April holding televised press conferences.

You may be wondering why the chairman of the Federal Reserve would travel to Texas to speak at a military base, Bernanke said today. He said he meets with a wide range of groups to listen, learn and explain the Feds actions. I am here because the men and women in military service, like all Americans, are profoundly affected by the economic challenges our nation has faced these past several years.

Bernanke’s visit took place one day before Veterans Day, the U.S. holiday honoring war veterans and which previously marked the end of World War I.

Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee continues to expect some pickup in the pace of recovery over coming quarters but anticipates that the unemployment rate will decline only gradually toward levels that the Committee judges to be consistent with its dual mandate. Moreover, there are significant downside risks to the economic outlook, including strains in global financial markets. The Committee also anticipates that inflation will settle, over coming quarters, at levels at or below those consistent with the Committee’s dual mandate as the effects of past energy and other commodity price increases dissipate further. However, the Committee will continue to pay close attention to the evolution of inflation and inflation expectations.

To support a stronger economic recovery and to help ensure that inflation, over time, is at levels consistent with the dual mandate, the Committee decided today to extend the average maturity of its holdings of securities. The Committee intends to purchase, by the end of June 2012, $400 billion of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 6 years to 30 years and to sell an equal amount of Treasury securities with remaining maturities of 3 years or less. This program should put downward pressure on longer-term interest rates and help make broader financial conditions more accommodative. The Committee will regularly review the size and composition of its securities holdings and is prepared to adjust those holdings as appropriate.

To help support conditions in mortgage markets, the Committee will now reinvest principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities. In addition, the Committee will maintain its existing policy of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction.

The Committee also decided to keep the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and currently anticipates that economic conditions–including low rates of resource utilization and a subdued outlook for inflation over the medium run–are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate at least through mid-2013.

The Committee discussed the range of policy tools available to promote a stronger economic recovery in a context of price stability. It will continue to assess the economic outlook in light of incoming information and is prepared to employ its tools as appropriate.

Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Sarah Bloom Raskin; Daniel K. Tarullo; and Janet L. Yellen. Voting against the action were Richard W. Fisher, Narayana Kocherlakota, and Charles I. Plosser, who did not support additional policy accommodation at this time.

If you asked Nicholas Woodman more than ten years ago what he might be doing with his life, you might get a blank stare and a shrug of the shoulders But little did he know, he would become the leader of GoPro. In 2002, GoPro hit the streets to introduce a small, durable, lightweight camcorder which can tape memorable moments that could never have been seen up-close before.

Weighing less than three and a half ounces, the camcorder allows surfers, snowboarders, kayakers, and even scuba divers to record every second of their experiences. The company has sold almost a million devices to various sport shops and has even ventured to vendors like X Games and Best Buy. Woodman’s $30,000 investment, which he got through selling beads and other products in Indonesia and Australia, has definitely been a success as the company fights for market shares against corporate giants like Samsung. From various models ranging between $180 and$300, many TV producers are looking to the GoPro to shoot in dangerous and riddled shots. Shows like Deadliest Catch and Whale Wars use the GoPro due toits durability, sound quality, and sharp image quality itcan obtain in the harshest conditions. The company would like to expand as well; plans to go public have been the chatter lately and even venture capitalistssuch asSteamboat Ventures have taken stake in the company going forward. With the device being waterproof up to 180 feet and shock proof from 3000 feet, there is little doubt that GoPro is the item to turn to when you need tough shots taken!

I recently watched the HBO film Too Big to Fail and it was nothing short of amazing. This website is by no means geared toward rating movies, but HBO Films needs to be applauded for their remarkable job. This movie displays the troubling events of the financial meltdown of 2008 and focuses more closely on U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The star-driven cast allows viewers to connect the dots and reflect on the turbulence which happened not too long ago.

The movie even ventures to break down, in the most basic terms, what caused the financial breakdown along with how it could have brought this country to its knees. I have recently written a forty-page thesis on the recent financial crisis, yet I am blown away by the activities that happened behind closed doors during those tense weeks. This is no documentary, but rather it’s a real-time investigation of events such as the collapses of both Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, Bank of America’s attempts to purchase other banks, the organization of Wall Street to save Main Street, and more importantly the construction of TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program).

In 2008, the fate of the world’s economy was decided within a matter of weeks. I urge all my readers, whether business-driven or not, to watch this movie in order to grasp a true understanding of what really went on in this nation during that period.

The show Seinfeld puts it best when explain double dipping: “It’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip. Look, from now on when you take a chip, just take one dip and end it.” But this article isn’t about the socially-peculiar moments when you catch some double dipping at a party, rather it’s about the near future of our economy. Probabilities for a “double dip” in the market have definitely lowered over the past year or so, but we are not clear by a long shot. The status today stands much like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Consumers continuing to worry about their financial futures (remember that consumer spending accounts for over two-thirds of overall spending), firms scared to invest, banks on their heels about lending, and government organizations cutting back employment are just a few examples of recent events that have the power to create one small shock which could push the economy back into the ditch. Prices at the pump, for example, which is one of the most significant components to our economy, have recently jumped up to almost $4 a gallon and could easily be another small shock to set the economy back into the recession. Other worries such as European debt crisis, Chinese economic slowdown, and most importantly the shift of government policies in the coming years are even more possible disturbances which could trickle into a slowing up of our economy.

However, I believe that the change in government policy will be highly influential in the short term. Over the past four years, many branches of government have adapted policies to help the economy regain strength and ensure recovery. With plans to cut financial assistance to the private sector, these government institutions will now attack the problems of the federal deficit, the dollar, and inflation. In doing so, the private sector will have to learn to walk on its own—not with a brisk wind at their back, but rather head-on. Plans to patch up the federal deficit, the dollar, and inflation are dangerous and conflicting when an economy is still struggling to get it together, which is why I rank government policy swing as “public enemy number one,” but I don’t disagree totally with the oncoming changes.

In the past years, billions of dollars have been pushed into the market, and with these policies there has been growth which has led many to believe the coast is clear, but in reality it isn’t. On the other hand, it has created rather high levels of uncertainty which has made recently sound markets a little volatile as we hopelessly await the cutting of financial aid. Some economists say, “That things are going to get worse before they get better,” but I am optimistic that the market will create some level of balance to once again lead our economy back on the right path.

Recently there have been many discussions that our society, or more broadly put, our lifestyle as a whole is rapidly approaching the end of a plateau. These discussions have developed because of the notable offset of events such as the recent recession, Middle Eastern unrest, and foreign civil rights. To a certain extent, most can agree that the 21^st century has started off rough, but at the same time most do not agree that the plateau is near, or whether it even exists. Suggestions have risen that our society and style of life needs to be sent back to the days of simplicity, and some even advise prehistoric lifestyles. But too many economists and philosophers say there are no facts that suggest the human race is willing or able to take steps back in time just live a simpler, slower life.

Let us pull back to reality for a few moments. We can all agree that a caveman-like lifestyle is not the best way to go. Rather just say we turn the clock back to sometime in the early 1900s. During this time period many problems plagued our societies, especially diseases. Tuberculosis, pneumonia, and various water borne pathogens were the top three causes of death and life expectancy was around 50 years old during this time. But what does this have to do with anything? If we were currently living in the 1900s and we heard the same clamor about changing our lifestyles because of the various happenings during those days, we would have never developed medical treatments for these diseases. Innovation is how we found these treatments which were created through competition, labs, and the frenzy of our markets. Complain all you want about the frantic life we currently live, but you cannot take the good without the bad. You cannot take the 70 year life expectancy without regulations from the pharmaceutical companies and the government. Would it make sense to turn the ship around now? No.Currently, innovation is trying to attack the modern day problems like AIDS/HIV. So where do Pop Tarts come in to play?

Cookies and Crème, Wild Grape, Cinnamon Roll, Rainbow Sandwich, Cherry Turnover, and Blueberry Muffin are just a few of the over thirty flavors of Pop Tarts that you can find on shelves today. In 1964 when Pop Tarts were first sold however, there were only four flavors: Strawberry, Blueberry, Brown Sugar Cinnamon, and Apple Currant. With an ever-expanding market and a society which craves innovation, we get rewarded with options and choices. If you want Pumpkin Pie Pop Tarts you can buy them, but could not do that in 1964.Because society and modern markets want innovation, we get the choice to buy new and different products. Turning back to the times of old would impede development of options and choices.

I am not a doctor but I know that the human brain is programmed to innovate and plan. Our brain gets excited when we start to watch a movie or when we create something new (like a website). Without the excitement to create or start a project, we would not see progress in medicines, higher standards of living, or increases in life expectancy. In addition, humans like to have choices like what to eat, watch, or discover. It is not impossible to go back to the days of more simple living but are you willing to give up going to the grocery store in exchange to hunt in your back yard? No need to take a poll, the majority of us are not going to give up Wal-Mart. To sum it up, we like progress and turning around to the life of stagnation is not what we are trained to do. Although innovation brings headaches, it also brings many advancements which are well-worth the trouble.

Sage Electinchromics based in Faribault, Minnesota, has been pushing for almost two decades to bring a durable, reliable, and high-performance energy-saving electrochromic technology for buildings to the market. Through intense research, Sage has developed the glass that does it all. From blocking the sunlight, to cooling you down, to providing privacy at thetouch of a button, the Sage window technology has made dreams come true.

The so-called “green glass” is coated with five layers of ceramic coating which, when constructed, are less than 1/50^th the thickness of human hair. When small amounts of voltage are applied, the window has the ability to darken or clear on demand. Obviously the windows come at a higher cost relative to other options, but the cost is also met with enormous benefits. The windows block solar heat, always keep view and connection to outdoors, block glare, and reduce fading on indoor objects. To a designer these all seem like great advantages but business leaders also get a taste of benefits. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that the electronically tint-able window systems are capable of providing up to 40% savings on energy bills, 20% savings on operating costs, and even 25% decrease in the size of HVAC systems. Potential buyers also might want to recognize the durability and reliability that these window systems provide.

The National Renewable Energy Lab, a subscript of the Department of Energy, tested the Sage product in intense temperature cycles and other rigorous elements and noted that the Sage product did better than any other product on the market. The European government even took a crack at it and noted that the SageGlass showed no traces of degradation. Finally the Atlas Weathering Group tested the product in the ArizonaDesert and found that even under maximum solar exposure over 24 months, there was not any loss of visible transmissions. Tests currently keep coming, but if the SageGlass technology can last in a 140 degree chamber where UV exposure and water spraying does not create any signs of damage over 50 weeks then I give a green light for the green window.

The future seems bright for Sage Electinchromics, but most believe the window world extravaganza is nowhere near done. Scientists say the glass will soon enable your office to turn into multi-touch screens, where the power of computers can allow PowerPoint presentations and even movie displays to be viewed on the glass seamlessly. The days of curtains are numbered!

Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has voiced heropinion many times on what Congress should do about the current minimum wage policy. In a Senate hearing not too long ago, Michele was quoted as saying, “Literally, if we took away the minimum wage we could potentially wipe out unemployment completely.” Unemployment is still over 9 percent in the U.S. but would repealing the minimum wage really make a dent in the rate?Although this is an exciting thought, many economists disagree with her optimistic outlook.

Alan Krueger of Princeton University, a specialist when it comes to minimum wage, disagrees with Bachmann’s statement.This statement is supported by two points which economists look to.First, recent minimum wage increases and decreases have done little to shock employment. A study done by Krueger inNew Jersey and Pennsylvania with fast food workers showed that when New Jersey raised the minimum wage back in 1992 there was no effect on employment in either state. Second, the majority of Americans are making well over minimum wage and only 6 percent work at or below minimum wage as of 2010 (some workers such as babysitters, small farm workers, or website owners are not figured into this). These facts go to show that little could be done with a policy change.

The 6 percent highlighted above is dominated by younger generations and lower skilled workers. Dropping the minimum wage would more than likely help these demographics but in reality itwould not go far to help the over 9 percent national unemployment rate. Another concrete thought to keep in mind about today’s current economic outlook is the fact that minimum wage or over-priced labor is not the problem; rather the demand for workers by firms is. Even if minimum wage keeps low-skilled workers and younger adults out of work, there is serious doubt that eliminating the wage floor would be an effective way to solve our employment problems.

My first article I published for this website was geared toward personal finance mistakes and how people fail miserably when picking stocks. I am no fortune teller so I will go ahead and throw the disclaimer out there that I won’t guarantee anything with my thoughts here today.  I feel that when picking stocks to retire with, you have to understand which trends to look for and which ones to avoid. Through personal research I have found a few waves that many people who are planning for retirement or are currently retired need to catch.

Global population growth is a huge factor which almost everyone looks at but with the wrong scope. In 1950, the world’s population was over two billion and after only sixty short years, the world’s population has more than tripled. Currently, over six billion people inhabit our lovely home planet but it is projected that in another sixty years our population will double to around twelve billion people.  When I first looked at this data, two things came to mind right off the bat. My first thought was where is everyone going to live, and my second thought (the more significant of the two) was how are we going to feed this many mouths? Thus I turned my attention to Deere & Company. This many mouths will need some serious agriculture, and Deere provides equipment and solutions to get the job done. More importantly Deere has not even reached their full potential overseas. With China, Brazil, Russia, and India all forming young but promising agricultural sectors, Deere is poised to pounce.  Although I don’t weigh analysts’ opinions too highly, most agree that Deere & Company will see above 30% growth per share this year and more than 15% in 2012. Overall, I believe that going with a multinational company with open fields ahead to explore gives this stock cause to be in everyone’s portfolio.

The next trend I looked at when developing my portfolio was who has the purchasing power in the future, and more notably where is the next spike of middle to high class. It is not a surprise that by 2030 the Asian Pacific countries are predicted to be the most dominant in middle-and high-class spending. I picked two stocks for this trend: Disney and BMW. I can’t go anywhere and not see Disney’s brand stamped somewhere: anywhere from television, to theme parks, to photo paper, Disney is so far-reaching that it has essentially created a culture within itself. With multiple parks opening in the near future in places like Shanghai and even Israel, it’s impossible to think that Disney won’t be profitable down the road. At the same time, BMW has shown great strides in their Asian market, most prominently in China. Sales in China alone have jumped 71% in the first quarter this year making China the third largest market for their luxury car. Also note that the car manufacturer stated it planned to invest almost $1.5 billion to expand their production in China. Both companies once again hold great value for emerging markets that will give clear gains to its shareholders.

Last but not least, get a company who can duke it out against inflation—essentially a company who has pricing power. McDonald’s, Starbucks, and Citigroup all have the ability to control pricing and thus are fantastic picks to hedge against inflationary risks. Citigroup, the most shocking of the three, has vast investments in multiple markets which allow the company to protect themselves from inflation for the most part. Over 70% of Citigroup’s income comes from overseas and with the past financial crisis still looming over the stock is dirt cheap, making NOW definitely a solid time to jump onboard. McDonald’s and Starbucks are also big time companies who own majority market share in their industry, customer loyalty, price power over suppliers, along with multinational outreach which protects these companies like Citigroup from an inflationary environment.

My grandfather is a hard-headed man—he refuses to invest in various bonds because of the government deficit along with the flight for quality, but this attitude toward investing has created a laid-back retirement for himself. He once told me, “She (the market) always beats up on people who don’t know what they are doing, but for the few who are patient and willing—she will reward them like no other.” My grandfather and I have one solid understanding that stocks have historically beat all other investments and will continue to do so, but only to the few who make sound financial decisions. The stocks above are based off of my understandings of future trends that may or may not pan out well, but the good news is that if you don’t approve, you can always read my first article posted online which explains how to get a monkey to pick your stocks.