White House Is Confident Bernanke Will Be Confirmed

[ProSense]

White House Is Confident Bernanke Will Be Confirmed

By JACKIE CALMES

WASHINGTON — After a full-scale mobilization, White House and Senate officials expressed confidence on Saturday that they had successfully contained a populist uprising among Democratic senators that had threatened President Obama’s nomination of Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as the Federal Reserve chairman.

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About four hours later, two Democrats — Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois — issued separate endorsements.

Mr. Kerry, acknowledging many Americans’ anger about the bailouts of the big banks, said, “It’s understandable why there is debate, questioning and even anger” about Mr. Bernanke’s renomination.

“Still,” he added, “out of this near calamity, I believe Chairman Bernanke provided leadership that was urgent, nimble, strong and vital in staving off greater disaster.”

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[Jennicut]

1. I wish he would not have supported Bernanke.

You know I have always been a big supporter of Obama but Bernanke is nothing but trouble, along with Geithner and Summers. Volcker is the only one on the economic side that seems to know what he is talking about.

[FrenchieCat]

6. Unintended consequences should be weighted.......

I'm not either or a defender of Bernanke, because I don't know enough,
and I'll be damned if I adopt the jingoism of the Left anymore than
what the Right offers....

I'm just not sure if there is anyone better to replace him
that could be confirmed....

and my understanding is that the person that would take charge if no one is confirmed
is way worse than Bernanke. At least Bernanke pulled us from the brink...
this other guy; well I'm not so sure if he would even if we needed it.

So for me, this is far too complicated to just pick a side.

[Jennicut]

8. Yes, I do wonder who else we could get.

But Bernanke has some negativity around him.

[donheld]

34. Elizabeth Warren!

[theothersnippywshrub]

Your point about whether there is anyone better is a good one.

Bernanke is a known variable, anyone else is not. The republicans want to see Bernanke defeated since they can characterize it as an additional defeat for Obama and democrats in general. A Bernanke defeat will roil the markets and the economic recovery and benefit republicans in November. Democrats should emphasize that even though Bernanke was Bush's choice and went along with Bush's Wall Street bank and auto company bailouts, now is not the time to change horses.

[FrenchieCat]

14. Bernanke got in his job at the end of the mess, it appears.....

by 2006, the shit was already falling apart.
I don't think that his job was that of Sec. of the Treasurer.

He may have kept interest rates low, but I don't think he had much of a choice.

[theothersnippywshrub]

19. When he became Chairman of the Fed, the funds rate was 4.5%. He raised rates three times to 5.25%

The Fed began cutting rates in September 2007, 18 months after Bernake's term began, when the mortgage bubble began deflating (the first Sub-Prime Mortgage hedge fund, a Bear Stearns fund leveraged at 100 to 1, blew up in the spring of 2007). Bernanke did not, until recently, keep rates low, he cut them to try and stop the bleeding. And that worked. The challenge now is to raise rates without hurting the economy. Because of his academic area of expertise (mistakes by central banks during the Great Depression), Bernanke has a fair amount of credibility on this.

edit to correct month when the Fed began cutting rates and error on rates.

[golfguru]

27. Bernanke exacerbated the bubble by dropping interest rates to 1%

which was like pouring gasoline on fire.

[theothersnippywshrub]

28. That was in October of 2008. The bubble was long gone by then. Long, long gone. n/t

[golfguru]

31. He was dropping rates for several years before it reached 1%

He never understood that the housing was in max bubble category.
Every time he appeared before congress he kept saying there was no
housing bubble.

Get Volcker! A true patriot, big kahuna's and knows his stuff.

[theothersnippywshrub]

32. First rate cut was in September 2007. It reached 1% in October 2008. That is not "several years."

It is 13 months. Bernanke testified in 2005 that the rapid increase in housing prices was unlikely to continue. The Fed raised rates at every meeting in 2005 and at the first four meetings in 2006. What is it about you that compels you to ignorantly lie your ass off about simple factual matters?

[golfguru]

38. Hmmm Sept 2007 rate cut...just when housing was STILL rising!

Helicopter Bernanke true to his name loosened monetary policy just when
he needed to tighten it. This guy has mostly academic background and has
no feel for the real world.

[theothersnippywshrub]

39. You have to be the most ignorant liar in the history of the internet.

Housing prices began declining in the third quarter of 2006. My dog craps turds that have much more knowledge, intelligence and integrity than you. Have you ever made a truthful statement to anyone, anywhere, at any time in your life?

[golfguru]

21. Was'nt Bernanke a GOP appointee?

[theothersnippywshrub]

22. Yes. Appointed by Bush in 2006. For the preceeding six months or so, he was

Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. As republicans work to defeat his confirmation, democrats need to remind the public and the press of this. And that Bush, not Obama, bailed out Wall Street and began the auto company bailouts.

[win_in_06]

35. I don't think it would be advisable to blame Bush for Bernake.

Like other Bush appointees that Obama decided to hold on to for some reason, they are HIS guys/gals now.

[golfguru]

18. +1000

[midnight]

2. I wonder what stock options they now are the proud owners of....

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[ProSense]

4. Don't be an idiot. n/t

[Dinger]

29. Too Late nt

[Dinger]

5. Awwwwwwwwwwwww, Isn't That Special

:eyes:

[FrenchieCat]

7. What specifically has Bernanke done or not done?

I'm just asking cause I don't really know.....? :shrug:
although I do know that DU is micromanaging the
entire situation.

[OHdem10]

9. Having been a scholar of the Great Depression, Bernanke engineered

the economy pulling us back from going over the cliff
into another Greater Depression.

[avaistheone1]

11. Really, how did he do that?

[FrenchieCat]

13. Well Paul Krugman and the rest of the economists could be lying......

:shrug:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/23/the-bernanke-conundrum/

http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2010/01/dont-block-ben.html#comments

[Yurovsky]

10. He's kept interest rates far too low...

which basically invited speculators to borrow cheap money and buy inflated real estate in hopes of flipping said real estate for a quick buck. In addition, the continued low rates have encouraged the mega-banks to borrow money from the govt at essentially ZERO interest, and turn around and buy treasuries at 3%, a total no-downside money-making scam underwritten by taxpayers.

Oh, and in case you forgot, he was a W appointee, and was just carried over for the sake of appeasing Wall Street. Hopefully now enough people have wised up, and Bernanke will be forced to go back to the private sector. Don't shed any tears, as he'll make millions, possibly BILLIONS. Insane, isn't it?

[FrenchieCat]

12. When did he come into his position, do you know?

[bigwillq]

15. Feb. 2006 as Fed. Chair

Was appoined by Bush 43 in Oct. 2005 and served as chairman of President Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.

From wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bernanke

[FrenchieCat]

16. Who do we have in the wings to replace him?

Do you know?

Or did no one think that far? :shrug:

[bigwillq]

17. I think Lawrence Summers was mentioned at one point

on edit: Krugman (!)
Huff post had some other potential candidates. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/22/who-will-replace-bernanke_n_433470.html

[Alcibiades]

24. Goldman must have a candidate

ready to go.

[Yurovsky]

36. Former Lehman Bros. execs are available...

or maybe we can dig up "Kenny Boy" Lay of Enron fame to come ride herd at the Fed.

What a goddamn nightmare...

[theothersnippywshrub]

23. Fed funds were 4.5% when Bernanke became Chairman. That's not "far too low."

He then raised the rate three times to 5.25% in the next five months. And he did not cut rates after that for 16 months or so.

edit to add raising rates info.

[Sultana]

20. Ugh

Bernarke sucks even his econ. books suck.

[geek tragedy]

25. He let HCR die, but he went to bat for Helicopter Ben.

Priorities.

[ProSense]

26. Health care reform isn't dead. n/t

[paulk]

33. don't you mean "health insurance reform isn't dead"?

[theothersnippywshrub]

30. Maybe he doesn't want the republicans to win every single battle. n/t

[bigdarryl]

37. Isn't it funny how the White House went all out to back Beranke courting votes in the Senate

so he could be confirm BUT at the same time they couldn't push with the same zeal with health care