Posted on 07/29/2013 7:05:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
George Santayana, and before him the 18th-century British philosopher-politician Edmund Burke, had history in mind in observing that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. Events five years ago hardly qualify as "history," yet the evidence is mounting that many supposedly well-informed people have forgotten what got the U.S. into—and out of—the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. How else to describe the common attitude toward the Federal Reserve and its chairman, Ben Bernanke?
The Fed and Mr. Bernanke were instrumental in pulling the country—and ultimately the world economy—back from the abyss. Yet the heroic effort seems increasingly held in low regard, if not contempt.
That is an astonishing development. Consider that last summer, a broadly bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives approved an audit of the Federal Reserve. The bill died in the Senate, but it was called a symbolic victory for then-Rep. Ron Paul. It was symbolic, all right: of the mistaken idea that the Federal Reserve and Chairman Bernanke have been at the root of all our problems.
In recent days, speculation has grown about who will be the next Fed chairman, with the betting on former administration insider Lawrence Summers or Janet Yellen, the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve board of governors. Why is the speculation rampant? Chairman Bernanke's term doesn't end until January, and he could have been reappointed, but he is being pushed toward the exit—by none other than the president of the United States. Last month, in a TV interview with Charlie Rose on PBS, President Obama said that Mr. Bernanke had "stayed a lot longer than he wanted or he was supposed to."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Should read: "... the man who propped up the markets so the kenyan could steal reelection"
The Fed has been destroying and saving the economy since the late 1930’s.
Bernake has done the best job possible to keep the economy alive while waiting for Congress and the President to get their acts together.
He is still waiting.
Bernake is the worlds best string pusher. Total waste of time and energy.
“Bernake has done the best job possible to keep the economy alive while waiting for Congress and the President to get their acts together.”
You mean the Republican House elected in 2010 and reelected in 2012 has not used its Constitutional power of the purse to bring federal spending under control so the Fed would not have to print money to buy the debt issued by the Treasury? I keep hearing on FR that if we elect Republicans they will be responsible stewards of the people’s money. What has gone wrong?
By buying up all the S*** debt paper at inflated prices and then paying the banks an illegally high level of interest to park the reserves generated thereof so the resultant money infusion doesn’t flood the economy with inflation???
It is up to Congress and the President to take measures to solve our economic problems and they have refused to do so.
As a result, Bernanke has had to resort to increasingly more extreme options to keep the economy stable using monetary policy alone.
Not sure what more he can do when he has done too much already
Amen
Well, Ben has certainly saved the TBTF Banksters and the Stock market, but little else.
I always loved how every time the market would begin to stabilize and start running up again he would come out and throw a media party to break it down again. Lost a lot of money to Barnacle’s BS.
Just another Progressive lying backstabber.
“Saved the economy” means that he allowed the “right people” to extract themselves from the bad situation that their greed had got them into.
Bernanke saved the banks, not the economy.
RE: Bernanke saved the banks, not the economy.
How would the economy fare if the banks were permitted to all fail?
Ha! Without credit and flow of funds, there is no economy. It’s like a body without blood.
You mean the same non-gov’t entity that:
- Has been allowed to create fiat currency, where a $1 in 1913 costs ~$25 today
- Though the Constitution stipulates that only silver/gold are to be considered tender for payment of bills?
- Whom, most likely, caused the Great Depression to facilitate the removal of every oz. of gold it could from We the People?
Yep, only he-lo Benny sure has been doing a bang up job.
Get rid of the Fed and bring D.C. back to its rightful size...
Buying all the guaranteed debt at market prices. And making hundreds of billions for the US Treasury.
and then paying the banks an illegally high level of interest to park the reserves generated thereof
0.25% is illegally high?
Where do you feel the Constitution says that?
Whom, most likely, caused the Great Depression to facilitate the removal of every oz. of gold it could from We the People?
I thought that was the Masons?
Get rid of the Fed and bring D.C. back to its rightful size...
Well you're half right.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.