Bernanke, Another Bushite Incompent?
Throughout the eight years of this Bush travesty called an administration, the American people have felt the negative effects of Bushite officials who are some or all of the following: incompetent, unethical, Republican Bush loyalists not public servants, greedy corporatists, foxes in the hen houses, corrupt, and unaccountable.
Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, certainly fits the Bush mold of dreadful appointees.
Dean Baker's recent article poses the question of whether Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, should go.
Baker writes, "This is a question that members of Congress should be asking right now. It is becoming increasing clear that we are facing the worst financial meltdown since the Depression, and Mr. Bernanke was caught asleep at the wheel.
"In testimonies before Congress and other statements he repeatedly assured the public that there was no bubble in the housing market, arguing that fundamental factors explained the unprecedented 70 percent increase in inflation-adjusted house prices from 1996 to 2006. Such reassurances undoubtedly helped sustain the bubble until it finally reached the bursting point last year.
"Even after the bubble began to burst, Mr. Bernanke failed to recognize the seriousness of the problem.
"There were failures by any number of federal and state regulatory agencies that should also be brought into the picture.
"But the reason that Congress should focus on Bernanke is to reestablish the principle of Fed accountability."
Bush's appointees fit the description in the first paragraph. In Bernanke's case, he seems deliberately incompetent. As Baker says of him, "Yet, the Fed chairmen either did not see the bubble or chose to ignore it."
And as for his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, self-centered, Republican brown noser extraordinaire, the following, from a 2004 article, "Don't take mortgage advice from Alan Greenspan" by Bill Fleckenstein, captures the asinine former Fed chairman perfectly,
".....a Federal Reserve chairman who has demonstrated that he couldn't identify reckless behavior if it ran him over...
"...March 6, 2000....he waxed on about the wonders of technology and how it had brought us a new era and all that other stuff. Folks may not remember that date, but it was four days before the Nasdaq Composite (COMPX) hit its all-time high of 5,048.62. Despite the recovery over the past year ago, the composite is still down nearly 60% from the March 2000 peak.
"This is not the first time Easy Al has been way off. On March 7, 2000, I wrote a column called Alan Greenspan: Friend or Foe that chronicled some of his prior quotes, speeches and the like. It includes his Jan. 7, 1973, utterance (right before the recession that ranks as our worst, at least until we get through the one we're in but haven't completed): 'It is very rare that you can be as unqualifiedly bullish as you can be now.'
"And, there are other examples.....For instance, in 1984, he wrote a letter to Edwin Gray, then-chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, advising the regulator to exempt Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings & Loan, a Greenspan client, from harsh federal regulations about its investments. He told Gray he should 'stop worrying so much' about such things as junk bonds, and that 'deregulation (of the savings & loan industry) was working just as planned.' "
As Baker says of Greenspan, "In fairness to Bernanke, most of the blame for the housing bubble rests on the shoulders of his predecessor, Alan Greenspan. However, Mr. Greenspan has fled the scene of the crime. (Actually he is still there, busily trying to rationalize his failures, but Greenspan is no longer accountable to Congress.)"
Greenspan and Ben Bernanke are Republican birds of a feather, who along with Bush and other administration cronies, helped cause this horrible economic crisis.
Should Bernanke go? Probably. However, who will Bush appoint in his place? So far, the Shrub's track record for appointees has been terrible, which is no surprise, considering his appalling record as president....Iraq, Katrina, illegal warrantless surveillance, torture.....
Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, certainly fits the Bush mold of dreadful appointees.
Dean Baker's recent article poses the question of whether Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, should go.
Baker writes, "This is a question that members of Congress should be asking right now. It is becoming increasing clear that we are facing the worst financial meltdown since the Depression, and Mr. Bernanke was caught asleep at the wheel.
"In testimonies before Congress and other statements he repeatedly assured the public that there was no bubble in the housing market, arguing that fundamental factors explained the unprecedented 70 percent increase in inflation-adjusted house prices from 1996 to 2006. Such reassurances undoubtedly helped sustain the bubble until it finally reached the bursting point last year.
"Even after the bubble began to burst, Mr. Bernanke failed to recognize the seriousness of the problem.
"There were failures by any number of federal and state regulatory agencies that should also be brought into the picture.
"But the reason that Congress should focus on Bernanke is to reestablish the principle of Fed accountability."
Bush's appointees fit the description in the first paragraph. In Bernanke's case, he seems deliberately incompetent. As Baker says of him, "Yet, the Fed chairmen either did not see the bubble or chose to ignore it."
And as for his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, self-centered, Republican brown noser extraordinaire, the following, from a 2004 article, "Don't take mortgage advice from Alan Greenspan" by Bill Fleckenstein, captures the asinine former Fed chairman perfectly,
".....a Federal Reserve chairman who has demonstrated that he couldn't identify reckless behavior if it ran him over...
"...March 6, 2000....he waxed on about the wonders of technology and how it had brought us a new era and all that other stuff. Folks may not remember that date, but it was four days before the Nasdaq Composite (COMPX) hit its all-time high of 5,048.62. Despite the recovery over the past year ago, the composite is still down nearly 60% from the March 2000 peak.
"This is not the first time Easy Al has been way off. On March 7, 2000, I wrote a column called Alan Greenspan: Friend or Foe that chronicled some of his prior quotes, speeches and the like. It includes his Jan. 7, 1973, utterance (right before the recession that ranks as our worst, at least until we get through the one we're in but haven't completed): 'It is very rare that you can be as unqualifiedly bullish as you can be now.'
"And, there are other examples.....For instance, in 1984, he wrote a letter to Edwin Gray, then-chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, advising the regulator to exempt Charles Keating's Lincoln Savings & Loan, a Greenspan client, from harsh federal regulations about its investments. He told Gray he should 'stop worrying so much' about such things as junk bonds, and that 'deregulation (of the savings & loan industry) was working just as planned.' "
As Baker says of Greenspan, "In fairness to Bernanke, most of the blame for the housing bubble rests on the shoulders of his predecessor, Alan Greenspan. However, Mr. Greenspan has fled the scene of the crime. (Actually he is still there, busily trying to rationalize his failures, but Greenspan is no longer accountable to Congress.)"
Greenspan and Ben Bernanke are Republican birds of a feather, who along with Bush and other administration cronies, helped cause this horrible economic crisis.
Should Bernanke go? Probably. However, who will Bush appoint in his place? So far, the Shrub's track record for appointees has been terrible, which is no surprise, considering his appalling record as president....Iraq, Katrina, illegal warrantless surveillance, torture.....
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