Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 12/17/2009 2:56:32 PM PST by Jet Jaguar
The closer-than-expected vote in the Senate Banking Committee to recommend Ben Bernanke’s confirmation for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve raised at least one new question: What would happen if the full Senate does not go along?
Without controversy, Bernanke would need just a simple majority – 51 votes -- in the Senate to secure another four years at the helm of the Fed, but that hurdle jumps to 60 if Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Jim Bunning (R-KY) and David Vitter (R-LA) carry out their threats of a filibuster. Those threats make it all but certain Bernanke will need 60 votes to win a second term. A cloture vote to cut off debate requires 60 votes.
Bernanke actually wears three hats: he's a member and chairman of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee. It is the FOMC which sets monetary policy.
He was appointed simultaneously in January 2006 to a 14-year term as a member of the Board of Governors and a four year term as chairman. It is his chairmanship which is now before the Senate.
If he is not reconfirmed as chairman of the Board of Governors, he would remain a member but Donald Kohn, the Vice Chairman of the Board, would serve as chairman.
The seven members of the Board of Governors are appointed by the President, subject to Senate confirmation. Members may serve only one full term, but a member who has been appointed to complete an unexpired term may be reappointed to a full term. The President designates, and the Senate confirms, two members of the Board to be Chairman and Vice Chairman, for four-year terms.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Then he’ll get a Nobel Prize, I suppose.
What a glorious day that would be.
If he’s not reconfirmed, the dollar will rise a little, then plummet. And the next flood of foreclosures will be greater. If he is reconfirmed, the dollar will fall more gradually. Either way the dollar will fall, and import prices will rise. ;-)
Ahhh...Time will have to find a new Perp of the Year?
Puts Dear Leader back in the running, huh?
The “what if” I want to hear is who would be the candidates to replace him.
Good picks (from my perspective):
Paul Volker or Ron Paul,(Peter Schiff would also work for me)
Bad picks: Bob Reuben, Larry Sommers, Christina Roemer, Yellen, or Jaime Dimond, or some Goldman Sachs fella.
Bad picks: Bob Reuben, Larry Sommers, Christina Roemer, Yellen, or Jaime Dimond, or some Goldman Sachs fella.
Since Volcker is too old, and Ron Paul isn't a professional economist (or in the running), and Peter Schiff is better known popularly than in financial/political circles, it's bad as far as the eye can see. Dimon is a good banker, but God knows what he'd do as a Fed Chief. As for the rest....
Whomever the choice, it will be picked by this President. Unless he thinks he can score more points by picking someone sane, he'll pick someone political. I was talking with my BIL, an economist, and he said that the money the government could raise from taxes was getting close to the practical limit. We had a graveyard laugh when I said, "They've maxed out flows, so next they'll go after stocks", meaning accumulated capital--savings, purchasing power, wealth of any form. I look for heavy-handed attempts to transfer wealth from private hands to government, by means such as inflation (the usual favorite), wealth taxes (direct, but heretofore very un-American), increased excise taxes, transfer taxes... you name it.
Why don’t we READ and see what the Constitution says?? Abolish the Fed and go back to Constitutionally Authorized Tender. When we dispose of the Den of Vipers we will be FREE.
I never have understood why so many smart people are dead set against HONEST BANKING and HONEST MONEY, instead they prefer LEGALIZED THEFT THROUGH INFLATION by CREATING MONEY OUT OF DEBT.
Maybe, just maybe he will be replaced by somebody that is competent.
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