And Demons Will Be Loosed Upon Us, Too
I’m sorry, but it’s hard to be more full of shit than Bernanke is when he talks about what would happen if we had greater oversight of his agency.
Ben is trying his old boss Chimpy’s tactic of scaring the piss out of us. The problem here is…. his agency can rightly be blamed for a whole lot of the mess we’re in now. So what is Ben warning us about? That if we audit the Fed, that they won’t be able to collaborate on new Ponzi schemes to wreck the economy with?
STFU already, Ben.
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday congressional proposals to audit the Fed and strip it of regulatory powers as part of post-crisis reforms could damage prospects for economic and financial health in the future.
“These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States,” Bernanke wrote in a column posted on the Washington Post’s website.
The rare newspaper column by a Fed chairman comes shortly before Bernanke testifies before a Senate panel on his renomination to serve a second four-year term at the helm of the central bank and answers a series of steps on Capitol Hill that could diminish the central bank’s role.
Lawmakers are angry with the Fed over its emergency bailouts of major financial firms and its failure to prevent the contagion of mortgage delinquencies that crashed the financial system. A proposal to audit the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations won a committee vote recently over the objections of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.
Frank’s Senate counterpart, Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, is himself the author of a proposal to consign the Fed solely to making decisions about setting benchmark interest rates.
Bernanke, in his column, conceded the Fed had missed some of the riskiest behavior in the lead up to the crisis. But he said the Fed had helped avoid an even more damaging economic meltdown and has stepped up its policing of the financial system.
“The Fed played a major part in arresting the crisis, and we should be seeking to preserve, not degrade, the institution’s ability to foster financial stability and to promote economic recovery without inflation,” he said.
The Fed played a huge part in CREATING the crisis. Shall we preserve their ability to do THAT as well?
Greed needs a brake put on it here and there, and it seems to me we’ve seen more than enough evidence that a lot of Fed decisions have greed as their basis, rather than sound policy. They need to have to answer to someone, like it or not.
November 28th, 2009 at 4:23 am
I admit that I’m split on what to do here.
On the one hand, the Fed needs to be independent so that the party in charge doesn’t use the Fed as an implement to stay in power by artificially lowering interest rates. The principal job of the Fed it to keep the economy growing at a constant rate by levering on money availability.
On the other, the Fed in its role as an overseer and regulator of banks has not only failed spectacularly, but actually drove bad policy in calling for the creation of the “too big to fail” bank/brokers, and sequential bubble building.
At what point do we stop letting seven suits (two of which are currently vacant!!) oversee the entire banking system of the United States of America??
The mishmash of regulatory agencies (FED, SEC, FINRA, CFTC, OTS, NCUA, FDIC, SIPC, 50 State regulators, etc.) need to be consolidated and refocused toward preventing failures. The Credit Ratings Agencies and many financial products (Credit Default Swaps, Derivitives) are currently not regulated and need to be brought under scrutiny.
I’ll be interested to see what Chris Dodd comes up with, as Barney Frank seems un-interested in changing a thing at the Fed.
November 28th, 2009 at 11:02 am
ascap scab,
I agree with all you said here.I wouldn’t want any organization which counts Bachman among its membership to make monetary policy.
Also what JR said,Bernanke used scare tactics about the collapse of money markets-then went ahead and backstopped them like he’d intended to do all along.
I think Sheila Bair has done a very good job at the FDIC,if any existing agency were gonna be the major regulator I’d want it to be them.The FED could have done to the bank holding companies under their stewardship what the FDIC did to failed depository institutions.
Plus Bair’s cute with her new hairstyle.I had to check to see if she was Sheila Bear not Bair hoping she was Indian,no such luck.
November 28th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Every person and organization that’s entrenched in a powerful position is going to fight tooth and nail to keep that power, whatever it takes. Whether it’s the Fed or the HMOs, the tactic is the same: “The sky will fall!” if I get competition or lose some of my authority.
Unfortunately, legislators and the public keep falling for it.
November 28th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
FUCK OFF, Carl. His latest IP is 207.44.237.143 for those of you keeping score.
November 28th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Two words: Elizabeth Warren.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
You know that when a bank can shop around for it’s regulatory agency, the system is massively fucked up. Something’s gotta give here.
Who’s Carl?
November 29th, 2009 at 9:03 am
If the Fed gets tax money to use, we need to know how they are using it and why. I would really prefer we return to the original blueprint of the constitution where the Treasury Dept. handles these matters. It isn’t perfect,but the Fed is an example of privatization gone wrong. The Monetary System should be operated as a public utility, not a private profit making biz.
Bee, I would guess Carl isn’t one of JR’s favorite commentors. Just a guess, of course.
November 29th, 2009 at 10:44 am
It’s not Carl’s Jr maybe?
November 29th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Carl is one Carl Johnson, a longtime stalker/nutjob that mainly torments Helen Wheels, but sometimes tries to torment me. He likes to post his talking points bullshit using other peoples’ names, which he has been attempting here for months.
November 29th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
JR,
I don’t understand that mentality,that stalker mentality that torments people,if someone doesn’t want you around-tell them to go to hell then get on with your life.
You see this type of asshole who seems to make an individual his/her life’s work.Just plain stupid.
I hope I’m clear, I mean the stalker-if their comments or attention is unwanted they should at most say “go to hell” to the stalkee (is that a word-maybe the way a teabagger describes someone with a stumpy build)then get on with their life instead of obsessing and being an asshole.
November 29th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Most people, I pass comments from-and you’ve seen that a lot of people don’t like me or what I’ve got to say, which is fine. But this Carl Johnson guy likes to post comments as other people, which is chickenshit, and more than I’ll tolerate.
If he had the balls to post as himself, and link back to his Rushpubliscum trash blog, he’d be as welcome as anyone else is to post here.