Totally unpersuasive. The job of the Fed is monetary policy. All the talk about bank regulation and TARP is beside the point. The Fed’s activities in those spheres are non-critical and non-essential.
Therefore, unless John Lott can assure us that Obama will nominate somebody for Fed chairman who will do a better job with FUTURE MONETARY POLICY than will Bernanke, then John Lott should stick to guns and econometrics — where his expertise is outstanding.
More specifically, Dr. Lott should know that if Bernanke is rejected by the Senate, we won’t see the nomination of a Milton Friedman or Allen Meltzer clone. We’ll get a Larry Summers or an Alan Blinder or somebody even worse.
Exactly,
Bernanke did not create the housing crisis, Congress did, and now they are making him the scapegoat. He has done a good job with monetary policy, which is what he is supposed to do. Congress has not done a good job with fiscal policy. Fire them!