Ben Bernanke's reconfirmation as chair of the Federal Reserve is in disarray. With President Obama having launched, on Thursday morning, a major new initiative to rein in the power of -- and danger posed by -- our leading banks, key Senators rightly begin to wonder: Where does Ben Bernanke stand on the central issue of the day?
There are three specific questions that Bernanke must answer, in some convincing detail, if he is to shore up his weakening cause in the Senate.
As running hard against the "too big to fail" banks is now a major theme of 2010 and beyond for the Democrats, how can any Democratic Senators feel comfortable voting for Ben Bernanke unless they know exactly what his position is on all of these points?
And given what we know about Bernanke's record and positions relative to these questions, absent new information it is not a surprise to see his support dwindling.
YouTube - Senator Menendez questions Bernanke during re ...
Critics Wail as Bernanke Basks in Praise - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com
Senate sets hearing on Bernanke's renomination | Reuters
Why are you putting up with this crap for civil service pay?
The brilliant back seat drivers who apparently lost their voice as the banking industry and economy went off the cliff think you don't know what you are doing or are in the pocket of the banks.
Ben, listen to me tell them to stuff it go work for wall street where a one year bonus is more than you will make working for the Fed in 10 years.
Ben this public service gig comes with too much baggage, stick up your middle finger and go the private sector and have the last laugh.
And where exactly were all these brilliant critics when there were no documentation loans, sub prime loans, car leases that were absurd and people financing 2 or 3 homes on spec.
Mr. Johnson where exactly were you and if you did send out a warning I humbly appologize
sound money=freedom
Geithner names ex-lobbyist as Treasury chief of staff
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-27-lobbyist_N.htm
"WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions."
That my fiends, is change we can believe in.
And why, may I ask, are Americans angry?
I would hope he has a far more enlightened understanding of systemic risk that Simon Johnson.
Keep the economic team. Get rid of congress and the far left academics trying to manipulate policy via experimentation. We cannot do this when the economy is on its knees during the great recession.
You appear to be advocating for a US system status quo only.
Remember the US was the best basketball team in the world until they actually played other countries...
s&p 500 earnings
Bernanke is a hero and all those overseas financial institutions would just love to see what is on our balance sheet so they can take advantage and manipulate our economy some more. If you do not think your friends like Soros who took down the Sterling and crashed the UK system and has even tried to manipulate his own home country banking system and apologized to it afterwards, want to finish the job they started in the fall of ’08, then you are not qualified to have this conversation. The only thing standing between them and our system is an apolitical Fed.
Wall Street = Main Street no matter what anyone says or wishes. We need to get regulations that are smart and not punitive. Millions of ordinary people lost their jobs that got paid less than union workers and government workers that worked on Wall Street in every town in the country. From tellers, to real estate agents, to the home improvement and home building industries and millions of small businesses that are parts of that chain.
Yes there are greedy bankers all over the world and they should be punished. But don’t ever think or say that Wall Street is not Main Street, and that you are attacking this country just because they are not ideologues, elitist from Mass, IMF members, union or government workers.
If an audit is not undertaken, then all we have is impunity.
France jailed the people in charge of the blood supply which carried the HIV.
The kids are watching...
NO WAY! The stupidest thing in the world unless your goal is to shoot yourself in the foot. It is a matter of National importance. Audit your congress instead if you really want to save America. Look at your health care bill. Keep the economic team and vote out congress!
You’ve got to love how the generic ‘republicans’ sit down on their cozy ‘generic’ ranchettes and complain the help isn’t cleaning up fast enough for them.
Bush, Cheney and the military industrial complex robbed this country’s treasury blind. The Reaganesk ideology of the Republicans is just flat wrong. You simply cannot run a country on the time frame of maximum quarterly earnings. Governments need to consider the welfare of generations.
We need to reacquire all the money siphoned off by the wealthy war-profiteer class over the last eight years and redistribute it both back to the people and pay off the public debt.
Just as Bush conducted wars with no sacrifice requested of the people except for the direct war casualties, Obama is trying to run a recovery with no one sacrificing except for the direct economic casualties. We can start this process by turning the Middle East back over to the Middle Easterners and focus on getting our own house in order.
AUDIT THE FED
Ron Paul and a bunch of congressmen want to to just that..abolish the Feds who have caused all these recessions and depressions since its creation. Let the Treasury do its Constitutional work for a change..create the credit and money supply for this country.
George Bush: The Unauthorized Biography
Chapter 1 - The House of Bush: Born in a Bank. The Bush family joined the Eastern Establishment comparatively recently, and only as servitors. ...
Because we have been more than half a century from enduring and surviving depression type hard times, we have lost the confidence to understand that it is a necessary part of our boom and bust economy; a way of wiping out debt, and weeding out business entities not suited to the changing times.
Instead, we have chosen to believe that a 1930s type depression is 'unthinkable' and that printing and distributing unbacked currency will be a cure for already outsized indebtedness. After all, how can such a thing happen to the World's Only Superpower?
Even if there will be a total failure of our monetary system, we still will have the same amount of food and the same housing stock. We would suffer hardship but could muddle through with our system intact if there was wise, courageous leadership.
The blame placing must end if we are to survive. Our elected representatives must join together to find ways to cushion the damage, make sure lifelines and safety nets are in place. They must bring about an end to our overseas military adventures.
And, the voters must support the 'realists' and scorn the 'press on' adherents.
The Fla. orange crop is being destroyed. That's 40% of the world's oranges. The air is thick with chemicals. The water has up to 600 different chemicals in it. We are not the same country we were.
Anyone who has ever watched a hearing and the embarrassing congress' lack of knowledge is astonishing!
Ever watch those?
Who is your favorite Congress person or Senator when it comes to Finance or Economoy?
Mr Shelby- Remember him?
In 2003 there was a Bill to regulate Fannie and Freddie that went nowhere.
The oversight Committees said that during Clinton yrs the subprime was only 3% of all mortgages, Bush admin raised to 50% of mortgages
In 2005, the Bill to regulate Fannie and Freddie passed the House and was dropped in the Senate.
Why did Sens. Shelby and Frist drop it from reaching the floor for a vote?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/4/8/717702/-VIDEO-from-1999:-Byron-Dorgan-vs.-Gramm-Leach-BlileyWOW
ONE YEAR LATER......
March 8, 2004
AIG, Citigroup Battle Unions on Political Donation Disclosure
http://www.bloomberg.com/
Merrill Backs Bush
Bush derives much of his campaign donations from executives at publicly traded companies, with employees at Merrill Lynch & Co., UBS AG and MBNA Corp. among those making up 13 of his top 20 donors last year, contributing $2.9 million.
Six of the top 20 donors to Senator John Kerry, who has clinched the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, were employees of listed companies, and they gave $275,000 since he began campaigning in January 2003, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
$2.9 million- Bush
$275,000 – Kerry
=Speaking of those arrogant twins, Tim & Larry, Geithner should be replaced, period; and Larry Summers should be re-assigned, perhaps as ambassador to Outer Mongolia. They say the weather there is especially appealing to "free-marketers" and Larry can have the rest of the winter to explain to his new "subjects" all about his theory of why girls can't do math!
Yellowman -- Jamaica Nice/Take Me Home Country Roads
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itsy4UM5Oh0