During Bernanke's press conference the dread MSM asked some good questions like about NGDP targeting and the Fed's poor forecasting track record.

Greg Ip of the Economist got at the conundrum of the Fed's policy stance with his question "what would the Fed have to see to consider more policy action?" which in other words would translate as follows. The Fed recognizes that the current trend of the economy is unsatisfactory. It's growing but not fast enough. Cyclical unemployment remains high and the longer it takes to bring down unemployment levels, the greater the chance that cyclical unemployment will turn structural and permanently damage the economy.

So, the state of the "unsatisfactory" but not "unsatisfactory" enough to warrant further action on the part of the FOMC. Ip asks specifically about what would make the state of the economy "unsatisfactory" enough to warrant the further action which Bernanke says the Fed is ready to take if necessary. Bernanke responded that a dip in the inflation rate would make the economy "unsatisfactory" to a degree that the FOMC would ease further. They seem to believe that the private sector economy has enough steam to push past the various headwinds and eventually provide catch-up growth.