In his semiannual report to Congress about monetary policy last Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had little but stale economic and financial news to report to the Senate Banking Committee.

His assertion that the ongoing economic recovery is moving at a modest pace with a weak outlook disappointed economists and incumbent lawmakers, who were probably looking for some good news to help them in upcoming re-election campaigns.

Bernanke cited high unemployment as a major reason for the slow recovery.

He said the unemployment rate would likely remain well above 7 percent through the remainder of President Obama’s current term, which ends in January 2013.

Although this might seem like troubling news for our economic status, for the unemployed and for incumbent politicians, we must realize what amazing things our government has accomplished during this recession.

Despite having been sharply criticized since being appointed Secretary of the Treasury, Timothy Geithner has already managed to stave off a crippling depression with what has been dubbed a “jobless recovery.”

Under Geithner’s direction, U.S. banks have raised more than $140 billion in reserves to cover unforeseen losses. In addition, several big banks have repaid the funds they received from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Fund.

Finally, consumption, access to credit and exports are all on the rise. Though its improvement is frustrating, the job market isn’t the be-all, end-all of our country’s economy.

Bernanke said the Fed has no immediate plans to take new steps to shore up the economy or speed up the recovery.

Nevertheless, Bernanke did discuss a few possible actions the Fed could take to help the economy, the most widely discussed of which is expanding its balance sheet by buying up various additional assets such as Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities.

However, the potential actions he discussed are too extreme to be rushed. After finally gaining some sort of economic stability, we should be patient with our incumbents, who have helped us get this far.

If the Fed were to buy additional Treasury debt and toxic securities, it would be further expanding its already swollen balance sheet, which stands at about $2.3 trillion.

By doing this, the Fed would usurp more power from the Treasury, thereby inflicting an undeserved and irresponsible punishment on Obama’s financial team.

With cool minds prevailing, we should give our current political leaders a bit longer before we demand their resignation and march on Washington.