The Federal Open Market Committee met to set the federal funds rate, a key interest rate. Here are 10 takeaways about what Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday at the Fed's press conference.

1. Low rates don't discourage lending.

Bernanke said because the Fed's monetary policy actually lowers the amount that banks can make by buying foolproof investments such as Treasuries, it pushes banks to look elsewhere for places to put their cash.

"Low rates should make it even more attractive to banks to look for borrowers and to earn the spread between the safer rate and what they can earn lending to households and businesses," he said.

2. Europe is already a drag on the US economy, and it's getting worse.

"Europe has had additional problems, and we've seen some of those effects in financial markets," he said.

But while reiterating some of the steps they had taken to help European banking authorities, including giving them the ability to freely swap euros for American dollars should the need arise, Bernanke stressed that European banks had to take the lead in resolving the crisis.