Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren grilled Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Tuesday over government policies that she said promote large financial institutions that are “too big to fail.”

Warren also asked whether big banks should repay taxpayers for the billions of dollars they save in borrowing costs because of the credit market's belief that they won't be allowed to fail, repeatedly citing a recent Bloomberg View study estimating that the biggest banks essentially get a government subsidy of $83 billion a year, nearly matching their annual profits.

Warren quizzed Bernanke on that study. “I understand that we’re all trying to get to the end of too big to fail, but my question, Mr. Chairman, is until we do, should those biggest financial institutions be repaying the American taxpayer that $83 billion subsidy that they’re getting?”

Bernanke responded, "The subsidy is coming because of market expectations that the government would bail out these firms if they failed. Those expectations are incorrect.”

After some back and forth, Warren countered, “$83 billion says there really will be a bailout for the largest institutions.”

“That’s the expectation of markets. But that doesn’t mean we have to do it,” Bernanke responded.

Warren insisted that the large banks should pay for the subsidy. “Ordinary folks pay for homeowners’ insurance, ordinary folks pay for car insurance, and these big financial institutions are getting cheaper borrowing to the tune of $83 billion in a single year simply because people believe that the government would step in and bail them out. I’m just saying, if they’re getting it, why shouldn’t they pay for it?” she said.

“I think we should get rid of it,” Bernanke replied.

Videographer Luke Rudkowski (#OWS) got yet another chance to question the current chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. The last time the two met, Bernanke was not in a talkative mood and since Luke only had one chance to ask one question he decided it had to be an important one. Luke asked Bernanke about the 2007 - 2010 secret trillion dollar Federal Reserve bailouts, that only recently came to light from a partial audit of the Federal Reserve. Barnanke was not happy with the question but since no one in the main stream media ever questioned Bernanke on the biggest bailout in world history, Luke had to seize the opportunity. During the inpromptu interview, Bernanke actually grabbed Luke's microphone and tried to snatch it away from him, but sadly the video did not capture his hands on the microphone.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spoke dire words during a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. Bernanke told senators that “economic activity appears to have decelerated somewhat” and that “the reduction in the unemployment rate seems likely to be frustratingly slow.” He did not say whether the Federal Reserve plans to do more to boost growth. He also warned lawmakers that federal spending cuts and tax hikes that automatically take effect in 2013 if Congress does not act to extend the Bush-era tax cuts, is the biggest threat to the nation’s economy. He urged lawmakers to “Do no harm.”