Wednesday, December 16, 2009

ben bernanke

ben bernanke
The Senate Banking Committee will vote on the renomination of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke tomorrow, and he faces some vocal opposition: Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) pledged that he would "do everything I can to stop your nomination and drag out this process as long as I can," and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who is not a member of the committee, has placed a hold on Bernanke's nomination that would prevent the entire chamber from voting on it.
One of the main complaints is that Bernanke has been too friendly to banks under the government's bailout regime. According to a new poll, Americans agree. In a new poll by Research 2000, 47 percent of respondents said Bernanke cares more about Wall Street; 20 percent said he cares more about "Main Street"; 33 percent weren't sure. The poll was commissioned by the Progressive Campaign Change Committee.
The question simplifies a central concept of the bank bailouts: that too-big-to-fail institutions on Wall Street are so integral to the functioning of the entire economy that they must be rescued, despite irresponsible behavior, in order to save the rest of us. In other words, the government was forced to tend to to Wall Street in order to save Main Street.

time person of the year

time person of the year
On Monday, TIME magazine's managing editor announced the short list for 2009's Person of the Year, including Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Bolt was recently honored by the IAAF as the male Athlete of the Year. Bolt set three world records at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and then went on to break his records in the 100 and 200 meters at the world championships in Berlin this August.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke was named Person of the Year by Time magazine on Wednesday, a highly visible show of support at a time he seeks to beat back proposals that would erode the central bank's authority and independence. Time credited Bernanke with creative leadership that ensured 2009 would be a year of recovery, however weak, rather than a catastrophic second Great Depression.
"The recession was the story of the year. Without Ben Bernanke ... it would have been a lot worse," Time managing editor Richard Stengel said in a statement. "We've rarely had such a perfect revision of the cliche that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Bernanke didn't just learn from history; he wrote it himself and was damned if he was going to repeat it."