Bernanke

Reuters: An economic puzzle Bernanke can't solve

link to Reuters

This should be a no-brainer for Economic Populist readers...

(Reuters) - It's a mystery that has puzzled even Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: if the U.S. economy is growing rapidly, why isn't it creating jobs?

 

Perhaps we should send Bernanke the link to the site?

 Bernanke offered two possible explanations.

Destabilizing a country by derivatives is "counter productive" - Bernanke

It is counter productive to destabilize or destroy a nation through derivatives according to Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke.

Counter productive. Hmmmm, if it was a military weapon I do believe it would be called something else but as long as it's financial....well, ain't thems just fightin' words.

Obviously, using these instruments in a way that intentionally destabilizes a company or a country is -- is counterproductive, and I’m sure the SEC will be looking into that. We’ll certainly be evaluating what we can learn from the activities of the holding companies.

The SEC? Like Madloff? Bernanke said this during testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

Chris Dodd asks:

Should there be limits on the use of credit default swaps to prevent “runs against governments?

Bernanke Cloture & Confirmation Senate Votes

Well, no surprise, the Senate just got in line and confirmed Ben Bernanke as Fed Chair, despite the fact we cannot find out who received $2 trillion dollars in loans, the complete miss of the housing bubble, the ignoring of derivatives as systemic risk and the general stonewalling on getting some real reforms and answers on the Financial meltdown.

With that, the game being played is Senators want to claim they voted against Bernanke....but not really. So, below are the vote tallies. If a Senator voted for cloture yet against the actual confirmation, that move is pure politics. In truth they completely endorsed Ben and his subversion of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and lack of transparency.

Possible Bernanke Smoking Gun on AIG Bail out

The Huffington Post is reporting there is a potential smoking gun on Bernanke.

Bernanke overruled his staff advising him to not bail out AIG.

A Republican senator said Tuesday that documents showing Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernake covered up the fact that his staff recommended he not bailout AIG are being kept from the public. And a House Republican charged that a whistleblower had alerted Congress to specific documents provide "troubling details" of Bernanke's role in the AIG bailout.

Below is the CNBC interview with Sen. Bunning (R-KY):

Bernanke Senate Confirmation in Peril

Roll Call is reporting the Bernanke Senate confirmation might actually be in peril, as in not enough votes.

Ben Bernanke’s nomination to serve a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve appears to be in peril. Bernanke is up for a second term at the Fed; his current term expires in 10 days on Jan. 31. A handful of Senators had previously threatened to filibuster the nomination, but this week the number of opposing lawmakers appeared to grow, further dimming his prospects for installment.

Wow. Honestly I didn't think this would happen, so for all of those who want to burn Ben, I sure hope you're thinking of a better replacement right now, before we get the likes of a Larry Summers as a new nominee.

Here's some new details on Senators:

Creator of the Taylor Rule does a call out on Bernanke

Ouch! Professor John Taylor, creator of the Taylor Rule has written a Wall Street Journal op-ed calling out Bernanke's speech from a few days ago claiming the Fed's low interest rates did not affect the housing bubble (For details on the speech see: implausible deniability)

A major call out is the Fed spinning the formula:

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