Amid the political and social uprisings in the Middle East, and union protests in the U.S., a recent speech by a pivotal U.S. policy maker received little attention, but it's one that investors should review.

In a speech before the recent G-20 meeting, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged emerging market nations to address the flood of money streaming into their markets.

The past week's data-point-of-consequence for investors was delivered by none other than the head of the world's most powerful central bank. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke underscored the nation's need to raise the debt ceiling.

Speaking at a National Press Club luncheon in Washington Thursday, Bernanke said delays in raising the debt ceiling limit, currently $14.3 trillion, could have "catastrophic" consequences, Reuters reported.

One economic data point that sort of slipped under the radar recently concerned the U.S. Federal Reserve's $78.4 billion payment to the U.S. Treasury in 2010, up about 65% from $47.4 billion in 2009.

And the reason for the revenue surge? Experienced investors or others who have reviewed the Fed's report will realize that much of it stems from income from the Fed's purchase of mortgage securities and Treasury securities in connection with the quantitative easing, part 2 program, or QE2.

Under QE2, the Fed will purchase up to $600 billion in assets from November 2010 to June 2011 -- this coming after the Fed purchased $1.7 trillion in assets through March 2010.

The Federal Reserve has embarked on a controversial new program of buying $600 billion of U.S. Treasuries to keep interest rates low and spur the economy.

There is some disagreement among some members of the Fed concerning the risks of this new program. Some fear that the economy is growing too rapidly, fueling unwanted levels of inflation, as reported by CNNMoney.

The verdict on the U.S. Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program, including part 2, or QE2, will not be rendered for years. It may be longer, given the many areas of financial and economic policy the program has touched.

Anyone who says they definitively and incontrovertibly know QE2's long-term impact is not being genuine: many more data points have to occur to judge, for example, how QE2 affected banker lending psychology, let alone its impact on the U.S. economy.

That said, we can glean clues and insights by looking at current conditions, and one short-term data point reveals that since Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke disclosed the implementation of QE2 on August 27, the S&P 500 is up 17%, Bloomberg News reported Friday.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee stated, again, that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time and that quantitative easing will continue with the "purchase $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion per month." Thomas Hoenig again voted against the FOMC policy.

The FOMC left its options open for the future and gave no specific guidance as to what actions it will take when QE2 ends next year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will appear on 60 Minutes this Sunday to defend his controversial stimulus package, dubbed QE2, of buying $600 billion of Treasury securities.

In the CBS interview, Bernanke explains his intentions with QE2 and defends the notion that this stimulus will not lead to inflation. He also told CBS that he is not ruling out the purchase of more securities.

Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has a message for investors: intentional weakening of currencies -- direct and indirect -- has limits.

"The suppression of the reminbi [China's yuan currency ] and the recent weakening of the dollar are, of necessity, producing firming exchange rates in the rest of the world," Greenspan wrote in an op-ed column in The Financial Times.

Reuters quoted Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as saying: "We're not in the business of trying to create inflation. Our purpose is to provide additional stimulus to help the economy recover and to avoid potentially additional disinflation, which I think we'll all agree could also be worrisome."

Bernanke claims that inflation is below the Fed's 2% target. That's hogwash! Sure if you use the "core" CPI, which leaves out food and energy, that may be the case. Not to worry.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) issued its statement indicating again that interest rates will remain low for an extended period of time and that proceeds of Treasury securities will continue to be re-invested into additional Treasury securities.

There will also be additional quantitative easing. This will take the form of the purchase of an additional "$600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion per month," according to the Fed's statement. This was well within the $500 billion to $1 trillion range expected by many economists and strategists. Thus, the current program appears to be largely discounted by the market.

With only a few days left before the Federal Reserve meeting on November 2-3, speculation is rampant concerning whether the Fed will ease, and if so how much.

Here are a few scenarios, as reported in Reuters:

• The general consensus is that the Fed will do some kind of quantitative easing, dubbed QE2.
• Some think it will be $500 billion for five months with more if needed.
• Others think it could be $750 to $1 trillion.
• Will it be open ended with $100 billion per month?
• Perhaps it will be $500 to $750 billion with more if needed.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is in a quandary about how to explain its anticipated quantitative easing stimulus, dubbed QE2. Officials worry that an added stimulus will create unwanted inflation.

Fed officials Charles Evans and William Dudley have spoken in favor of the new stimulus. Dudley told the Financial Times that asset purchases and communication are "two potentially complimentary avenues."