Ben Bernanke is testifying in front of Congress today about the state of the economy.

His full opening statement is here.

Warning: It's very dry.

He recapitulates the state of the economy, and then says that fiscal austerity was a drag, and that easing is still helpful.

It's very dry stuff, but then again, this is a speech on the state of the economy, rather than a speech delivered to fellow economists about monetary policy.

That being said, it's a gigantic waste of time for him to deliver this speech.

Traders only care about the headlines, and there's no reason why the speech couldn't be delivered electronically to the members early, so that they could read it through and then jump to the Q&A.

This should be how all testimony goes. Deliver the speech electronically when things start. Let people read for a couple of minutes. And then jump right into the good action.

No more opening statements.