Recent discussion on Ben Bernanke’s confirmation for his second term has brought the institution under the microscope. The “Will of the People”, which has recently been tossed aside is in uproar again over Ben Bernanke’s second term, US Congressman have expressed that they will not confirm Mr. Bernanke for a second term, which has caused the Administration to show public support for Bernanke and their accompanying agenda.
The debate is whether he is the creator or the solver of the current economic downturn and if he has the ability to get us out of this mess. Our socialist Federal Reserve truly reflects our lack of a true free-market system with the chairman of the Federal Reserve essentially controlling the monetary system in America. The lack of regulation of the Fed has always been a concern of many, and just recently has Ron Paul (R-Texas) proposed legislation in Congress to regulate the Federal Reserve, with little movement thus far. The Federal Reserve system scares me to death that so much power is put into the Chairman’s hands. Of course, the Administration and Wall Street support a second term for Bernanke with interest rates painfully low and with a real interest rate negative, money can easily transfer hands with little risk. Isn’t this the reason we got into this mess in the first place? Bernanke is a direct disciple of Greenspan, who sat next to him as interest rates became woefully low providing a catalyst for the Sub-Prime mortgage mess and risk-less spending. Wall Street supports the confirmation mainly because they benefit greatly from lower interest rates, in turn allowing them to organize their portfolio to recoup losses from the recent downturn. Considering there’s no accountability for risk in Wall Street, the Good Ole Boy network of Bankers and Obama Advisors need Bernanke and consumers confidence to continue their agenda and the accompanying Billions currently being generated by Banks.
Surprisingly enough, Rolling Stone magazine has a great article showing the lack of change in the White House in the Obama Administration. This article http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/31234647/obamas_big_sellout/1 , details that a majority of his advisors are Wall Street bankers. It’s no surprise that those people that got us into this financial crisis are now responsible for getting us out!? Their interests will come first and the Administration will begin the political speak to justify their actions and the Bernanke confirmation.
So, what happened in New Jersey, Virginia, Massachusetts, and now the confirmation of the Fed Chairman is that people are anti the establishment. The institution is in trouble in up-coming elections and incumbents are scattering to frame this campaign to adhere to recent political speak. From Liberals dissociating themselves with the term, “Annoying Hippie Liberal Douche” (I couldn’t help myself) to wanting to be known as a “Progressive”; or the Republicans claiming they are “Conservative” and not, “The Party of No” . It will be interesting to see how the Administration and incumbents fight off the anti-institution uproar from the American people. I believe this is a result of force legislation and the wording of the Stimulus failure from “Jobs Created” to “Job Saved” , the American people are not stupid and they know when a clam-shell game is taking place.
3conservativebros
MacGregor
Johnny M
Timmy K
Brandon,
Good info here, it is weird to realize that Obama is just a typical politician, this time with thuggish Chicago style ties. Coulter’s recent book talks about Obama’s Senate campaign and the dirty politics used there, and its sad to know that so many are still thinking that President Obama is this avg guy for the common man nonsense.
But dont you think that there is a balance that needs to be reached during this recession. Lending standards are much tougher now, and wouldnt it be tough to raise int rates now? And with so many billions flowing from here to there and back to here, it seems as though changes could tip the shaky balance our economy is hanging onto.
Brandon,
I admit I know barely anything about the “Fed”. You make a few statements that seem backwards to me. You call our Federal Reserve System “socialist”, How can an independent entity within the government be socialist? It is a non profit organization comprised of 12 members who are forbidden from having any personal stake in a private bank.
Next you imply that the Federal Reserve (with guidance from wall str and the admin) lowering interest rates is the reason we got into this mess. Honestly i’m not sure what role the fed could or should have played. What I do know is the .com bubble bursted, 9/11 and war spurred the economy superficially and once that subsided high gas prices followed and then housing bubble bursted. So to say the economy is even mostly the FED’s fault i believe is very wrong. Would high interest rates have stopped credit default swaps?
Last you say you are scared about the Fed Cheif’s power. Again I’m not sure where this comes. He is just one vote among 12 voting board members. They together control the banks interest rates and federal money supply. I don’t want congress having anything to do with that… Leave it to the experts.
While i cant say that the Fed was the main culprit in our financial collapse, their low int rate policies clearly played a part. SO did the govt’s push to provide housing to everyone, lax regulations that created an environment where something as ridiculous as CDO’s could be instituted, shortsighted financial firms, corrupt credit ratings agencies, Dems in Congress, and irresponsible home owners.
I think that Brandon was making a point that many of the people now responsible for making our monetary policy came directly from the financial firms who played a major role in creating this complex mess….
I would like to see more accountability and transparency from the Fed, they are in essence a central banking agency that sets policy for our entire economy which in turns sets it for the entire world..
Tim,
Your optimism is encouraging, but the lack of regulation that takes place at the Federal Reserve makes a lot of people nervous. I do think however that how easily money changed hands played a significant role in the financial recession, nothing is solely to blame, but some consideration needs to be given for the fact that monetary policy was weak, which was/is a catalyst for a lot of the financial decisions made that lead to the recession. I personally don’t believe the system truly represents free-markets, hence the socialist view on the system, although it would be nice to believe that each of the 12 members are without bias and influence. The chairman does have a lot of power in our economy, regardless if the 12 Federal Banks don’t have no vested interest in their regional bank, which by the way, just like Bernanke and Giehtner are Wall Street bankers or are closely aligned with companies such as Goldman Sachs, if you look at some of the bailout decisions, it frightening the help that was given to Goldman and not to their key competitors (Lehman) and the only thing tying everything together was that the current administration’s advisors were formerly employed by those institutions. I’m not claiming to be conspiracy theorists, but too many pieces fit into place to not question the individuals in charge and their motives. It’s often said that the Chairman of the FED is the most powerful person in American, that being said I don’t trust for one minute that Wall Street and the Administration have no influence on interest rates. With regulations the way they are it does make it harder to raise rates, but the policy that the FED has adopted mirrors administrations and that’s something that wasn’t suppose to happen, 4 year terms for the Chairman gives kudos to that idea, although I believe the 12 bank members have 12 year terms and need to be confirmed by Congress. So, I do think that interest rates play a significant role in our recession and I’m not a big fan of their lack of regulation. I don’t believe the system is pure or adverse to corruption and when people go public like Warren Buffet to claim Bernanke is our savior it sways public opinion. Our spending habits benefit from lower rates, so why wouldn’t Obama want to ensure that this continues. I value the US dollar, which is losing its value daily and investors are hedging against the dollar with gold and other currencies that work against the dollar’s value, hyper inflation seems inevitable to offset our National Debt, all of this is unsustainable and the one individual that can alter our course is the Chairman of the Fed, calling it socialist might be a bit overboard, but the Fed has considerable power to change the direction of our economy so when politicians, investors, and a plethora of Wall Street bankers in our Administration get involved I think it’s appropriate to question the institution and the validity of our so-called free-market system.
As far as the Administration’s ties to wall street with lobbyist and cabinet members and so on I completely agree. The problem is your mixing this with the FED CHIEF.
First and foremost, how long did bernanke work/live/etc in with Wall Str? The answer is never… A PHD in economics and head of a few education departments before being elected or appointed to Board of Governors.
Now onto what the Fed did to cause this problem… After the .com bubble burst, we were on the verge of recession, Federal Funds Rate was then set at 1.25 percent in November of 2002…. it climbed steadily as the economy recovered and stood at 5.25 percent by June 2006. The housing bubble collapsed in late 2007.
Here is the link http://www.the-privateer.com/rates.html
Can you explain, what they should have done? or what “regulation” would have done?
Last but not least, the TARP bill did put all kinds of power into the feds hands… this is the complaining you hear. The FED was mostly responsible for who got what/when and so on… here i agree, and there are cases in work to get that info from or through the freedom of info act.
2 things about this.. first this was/is power given to the fed by congress through that bill. This has nothing to do with the “system itself”, this is an unprecedented area for the fed. Second, would you really rather have congress having a hand in where the money goes?