"The U.S. fiscal situation, if not handled correctly, could turn into a global macro shock," The idea that the U.S. could threaten to default is a dangerous one."

- St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard

"If it were just U.S. markets, it might not cause too many problems, but we've got people participating in foreign markets who are probably not as tuned in to the U.S. political situation"

"With the weaker data, it's fine to tell the story that you think things are going to pick up, but then you are going to want to see some confirmation of that"

"Our most likely move next will be to tighten, but tightening to me means first to allow the run-off on the balance sheet. I would even sell a few assets, but I'm not sure the committee is willing to go that way"

"It would help us in the current environment because we have a super easy monetary policy, and this creates some worries that maybe we'll lose control of the situation, and end up with a lot of inflation," he said. "But if you explicitly stated a target then you would assuage some of those fears."