Posted on 08/25/2009 1:15:46 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
President Obama is turning a blind eye to Bernanke's all too many errors of judgment.
An old boss of mine, who is well versed in the ways of Washington, once cynically explained to me that in Washington nothing succeeded so well as failure. President Obama's decision to reappoint Ben Bernanke for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman would suggest that my former boss continues to be right about the way Washington works. Despite Bernanke's many egregious errors of judgment during his first term, which have cost the nation so dearly, President Obama is choosing to give him a second chance. And the president is doing so at the very time that the Federal Reserve will be facing extraordinarily difficult challenges of meeting its twin goals of maintaining price stability and promoting economic growth, which will require the exercise of the soundest degree of judgment.
In deciding to stick with Ben Bernanke, President Obama is exercising the most selective of memories. Indeed, the president is choosing to remember only Bernanke's valiant role over the past nine months in pulling the economy from the brink and from preventing the country's worst economic and financial crisis from morphing into a second Great Depression. What the president is blithely choosing to forget, however, is the role that Bernanke might have played during his first two years as chairman in creating the very economic and financial conditions that got us into the mess in the first place. He is also choosing to forget Bernanke's role in the Lehman Brothers ( LEHMQ - news - people ) debacle that was the trigger for the Great Panic of 2008.
Being charitable, President Obama's decision to reappoint Bernanke is perhaps understandable given how Bernanke's aggressive and innovative policy response helped prevent our financial system from literally imploding
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
I don’t think Zero even knows that errors are being made.
It could be a rotting dog carcass in Bernake’s shoes, for all Obama cares, what’s happening is exactly what he wants to happen. If we improve a little bit, so what, if it gets worse, the better...
I consider it a relief that Bernanke will remain, instead of someone like Larry Summers replacing him.
"This crisis is exactly what we want to take advantage of to promote our socialist agenda."
yitbos
This way he can blame the errors on Bush’s appointee
Bernanke is hard at work, making FDR look like an economic genius. He has slashed interest rates; rolled out a plethora of untested lending programs; backed the debt of Bear Stearns, a failing investment bank; agreed to lend to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, America’s troubled, quasi-private mortgage agencies; argued for fiscal stimulus and mortgage write-downs; and proposed an expansion of the Fed’s regulatory domain. Great to have him aboard the listing SS Obama for another upclose view of Davey Jones’ Locker as the media plays a last waltz. Superb.
Seconded!
Whatever happened to Volcker? Is he too embarrassed to show his face these days. Always interesting to consider what you don't see.
And I thought Greenspan was OK until he married that socialist wife who swung him left.
yitbos
“Indeed, the president is choosing to remember only Bernanke’s valiant role over the past nine months in pulling the economy from the brink and from preventing the country’s worst economic and financial crisis from morphing into a second Great Depression.”
Am I that out of touch with reality or just in a rotten luck area in that I am not seeing any such thing of ‘pulling the economy from the brink’? Is the measure strictly from the stock market or something?
Some many Americans have noticed about 6 million jobs lost since The Obammunist was emaculated.
yitbos
I saw Volcker on Bloomberg today calling for regulation of Money Market Funds because they put banks at a competitive disadvantage. He is still very much on the scene.
Never cared for Greenspan, thought he was Volcker light. Volcker wasn’t the greatest either.
I wish Steve Forbes would take my advice emailed many times to fire Quentin Hardy, that a**clown is a total wasteproduct. His writing is almost as bad as his appearances on Forbes on Fox.
yitbos from an alumni.
5.56mm
Still waiting for Ben to file an 8K?
You do have a good sense of humor. Just be careful next time posting to people who have much more experience, education and knowledge than you do, trying to insult them.
5.56mm
Perhaps you will indulge me and offer your opinion about the Fed's external audits as performed by Deloitte for 07 and 08?
You had originally raised a caution flag because "no opinion" was offered. My serious counter-argument is that (for the financial statements) Deloitte issued an opinion that they "represented fairly with no material weaknesses". The "no opinion" is based on internal control and is addressed by Deloitte in a separate letter. I can understand raising concern about this, but we are considering a government agency whose internal controls are auditted by an IG and the GAO -- and, eventually, on a semiannual basis by Congress.
And, all kidding about 10-Ks and 8-Ks aside, the Fed does actually publish their balance sheet weekly (on their website and it's available on Barrons website for free, too). The Fed is a highly scrutinized entity.
Finally, the bill in question (HR 1207), would not even address the current audit, but rather direct the GAO (i.e. Congress) to review currency swaps, FOMC transactions and FOMC meetings. The above three areas were specifically spelled out in law by Congress as not being audit-able by GAO over thirty years ago. The whole argument boils down to whether Congress wants more oversight. If they do, they'll bring this bill out of committee and vote on it. Ultimately, the Fed has no power to stop Congress.
Thanks for your time.
I look forward to your comments in the future on the Fed and related matters.
5.56mm
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.