Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s Re-Appointment Becoming Controversial
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is up for re-confirmation to the Fed and what once was seen as inevitable is starting to become less so because members of both parties have issues with the Fed chief. Sen. Sanders, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, recently placed a hold on his nomination.
Mr. Sanders, an independent, is not a member of the Senate banking committee, but he has frequently accused the Federal Reserve of bailing out Wall Street firms and the banking industry at the expense of ordinary citizens.
“In this country, there is profound disgust at what happened on Wall Street,” Mr. Sanders said in an interview. “People want a new direction and people are asking, where was the Fed? How did the Fed allow this to happen, when one of their mandates is to oversee the safety and soundness of the banking system?”
Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI) (not to be confused with the actual White House) has also expressed dismay but is willing to give Bernanke another chance so long that:
“[t]hat they’re willing to take their eyes off an exclusive gaze on the welfare of Wall Street and start giving a red hot damn about the American public.”
Some Republicans are also against Bernanke like Sen. Bunning who added a second hold, but that may be just a knee jerk reaction because Bernanke is Obama’s pick for re-appointment to Fed Chairman even if Bush nominated him first.
Still, Bernanke has allies of his own from both parties including Republican Sen. Gregg and Democratic Sen. Dodd. What is really troubling is Bernanke’s recent comments on Social Security and Medicare. Quoting a bank robber, the Fed Chief said:
Ben Bernanke has overseen the greatest expansion of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet in its history, pouring trillions of dollars into Wall Street firms at roughly zero interest rates.
His generosity, however, has a limit.
In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee today, where he’s seeking re-appointment as the Fed’s chairman, Bernanke called for cutbacks in Medicare and Social Security even as unemployment rises and the middle class is endangered.
Citing legendary bank robber Willie Sutton, Bernanke said of the retirement and health care funds that are the legacy of the New Deal: “That’s where the money is.”
Social Security and Medicare, a social safety net for millions of average Americans, should not be raided to keep the rich afloat. That’s certainly not the change we need unless the change Bernanke is talking about is to de-evolve back to 19th Century Gilded Age. Bernanke has some explaining to do.
