Bernanke's actions recall those of the Fed during the early years of the Depression, when our central bank wouldn't ease in the face of a catastrophic contraction for fear of igniting a German-style inflation.

FORBES: Discharge Incapable Commanders

Yet central banks failed to foresee either the 1930s depression or the great inflation of the 1970s.

ECONOMIST: The new danger

The firm plans to invest in three main areas: cancer, metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity, and diseases of the central nervous system such as Alzheimer's, depression and schizophrenia.

FORBES: Magazine Article

But if Milton Friedman and Anna Schwartz were right in their insistence that it was actually the Federal Reserve that caused the Great Depression (which is something that Ben Bernanke himself has insisted that the Fed will not repeat) then one way of interpreting what has happened is that the European Central Bank has just set us all up for another Depression.

FORBES: Cyprus Bailout: Welcome To Another Great Depression

Moreover, the austerity that the European Central Bank and Germany are imposing on Italy will turn recession into depression.

FORBES: French Banks Won't Be Able To Handle Inevitable Italian Restructuring

If growth starts to pick up, central bankers can congratulate themselves on having steered their economies through the crisis without triggering a repeat of the Great Depression.

WSJ: Central Bankers' Change