I have wished to talk about Fed. Chairman Ben Bernanke's renomination and the quality of the job that the former Princeton Econ prof and expert on the economics of he Great Depression did, but since Doug Henwood, of Left Business Observer, sums up Chairman Ben's performance so well, I'll leave it to him:
Why is this guy getting reappointed? He let the bubble inflate, dismissed worries about the dangers of subprime mortgages and derivatives, said in mid-2008 that the recession was unlikely to get too serious (just as it was about to get very serious)—and then, when everything fell apart, set about writing big big big giant big checks to Wall Street. Yes, in a financial crisis, it’s essential that a central bank flood the system with money to keep things from imploding utterly. But he’s done so without any clear strategy or accountability, and absolutely no commitment to insuring that it doesn’t happen again. Truly the American ruling class is a rotting social formation.
and later:
Fed chair Ben Bernanke was before the Senate just the other day urging Congress to cut Medicare and Social Security. I suspect that the upper reaches of American society are deeply interested in imposing an austerity program on most of us in order to pay the bills for the bailout and stimulus programs. It’s never too early to gear up for that fight.
The rest of Doug's article is his assessment of the latest economic news and worth the read as it always is, even when I disagree, which is seldom.
