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Scholarly Bernanke Gets an ‘F’ in the Real World

By Rick Ackerman Posted on October 26, 2010, 4:45 am EDT Last Updated October 26, 2010, 4:29 pm EDT

(Today’s commentary, from our friend Steven George Fair, a frequent contributor to the Rick’s Picks forum, dares to challenge the ivory-tower qualifications of Ben Bernanke to run the U.S. economy from his aerie at the Federal Reserve.  Sure, Steven’s just blowing off steam –but we’re letting him do it here because it’s so obvious that Mr. Bernanke,  for all of his academic accomplishments, has so badly botched his mandate to keep the money system stable that the U.S. economy may not get out alive. RA)

Resume of Ben Bernanke

Federal Reserve System

2005-2006    Chairman of the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers

2002-2005     Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

1990-2002     Member of the Academic Advisory Panel

1987-1989      Visiting Scholar, Philadelphia

1989-1990     Visiting Scholar, Boston

1990-1991, 1994-1996    Visiting Scholar, New York

Teaching

1996-2002   Chairman, Princeton Dept. of Economics

1985-2002   Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, Stanford

1983-1985   Associate Professor of Economics, Stanford

1979-1983   Assistant Professor of Economics, NYU Department of Economics

1989-1990, 1993 Visiting Professor of Economics Education, MIT

Education

1979    Ph.D. in Economics, Harvard

1975        B.A. in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, Harvard

Awards and Achievements

Harvard:  Best undergraduate economics thesis; outstanding senior in the Economics Department.  Guggenheim fellowship. Sloan fellowship. High school valedictorian. Received a 1590 out of 1600 on the SAT.  Self-taught calculus. South Carolina state spelling bee winner.

Books Authored: Essays on the Great Depression; Macroeconomics textbook; Principles of Economics; Principles of Microeconomics; Monetary Policy Alternatives at the Zero Bound: An Empirical Assessment.

*****

All Theory, No Experience

Our Fed chairman is certainly no slouch, as his resume makes clear. No one would dare question the intellect of the man.  No one would dare challenge his education under the cadre of theory-producing progressive think-tanks. But what do we really have from Ben Bernanke other than a theory on how the Great Depression only got worse?  And another on how a mere man can defeat the Laws of Nature and natural cycles.  We as a culture have bet our future and the future of our great-great grandchildren on voting for progressive legislators who for the most part have not even worked a summer job at hard labor, or run a business of any kind except a corporate bank.  I guess I’ll have to speak for Oregon, where the two senators, and the representative for downtown Portland, have never had an honest job at hourly labor.  And in Washington D.C., Little Timmy Geithner is groomed, mostly in foreign lands, to do exactly what he is doing – with no experience of being a man on the street looking for work, or looking to make a small business succeed in the face of massive government intervention and abusive ordinances passed by the skullduggery of an illegitimate governmental form called democracy.

Bernanke, and the congress are thieves who have stolen 30% of the savings of hard-working people over the past few years.  Am I wrong to believe that private savings is the engine of progress and business? Now Bernanke has engaged the G-20 in hopes there will be no currency wars as he induces, via QEII, yet another round of Common Law theft and misrepresentation under the statutes of fraud.  Is the Fed chairman working within his college theory, or has he broken into the unknown in an attempt to defeat the Laws of Nature?  We as a whole are betting that Congress and the chief executive, as well as Bernanke, can produce wealth not through work and saving, but by using theory, massive debt, and theft of savings to grow the economy by growing the government, and by favoring union-protected jobs in the public and private sectors.  Exactly what has Bernanke accomplished?

Rewarding Crooks

It appears he has rewarded everyone who lied to get a loan.  Every banking crook was bailed out, and the bankers got to keep what they stole. AIG is ready to pay back their loans with money created by Bernanke and loaned at no interest.  Government Motors Company is back on track, using accounting rules to create profits where only problems exist. Last year we spent $1M to create a each $50k job ahead of the elections.  Now my dearest Bernanke is going to steal from individual savers to help the corporate gigolos who put legislators in office in the first place within the republicrat system of electing attorneys and hacks who have never been productive in labor in their lives.

Looking at his resume, one might ask “Who would hire Bernanke?” And for what job? What is he qualified to do under the pretense that he must address the Laws of Nature  as he did in his Ph.D. thesis?  I’ll end with this:  A friend told me that corporations are currently sitting on $2 Trillion (that’s t-r-i-l-l-i-o-n) in cash.  How could the economy have come to such an impasse that this kind of money could sit idle.  Is it even real?

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  • roger erickson October 31, 2010, 12:14 am

    A lot of argument with little relevance. Every complex system ever existing has MANY, many degrees of freedom to adapt to any context. Another perspective is that the Fed was gutted of any/all real influence in 1933, when we went off the gold std domestically. After that, we had far more flexibility (needed to win WWII), and of course responsibility for having our Treasury take over mgt of currency supply.
    If Geithner/Bernanke fiscal policies were replaced with sane ones, we could be out of recession within 3 months.

    (use your imagination, there are 1001 ways to do this, one of which WILL occur; but dissolving the Fed or making it a dept within the Treasury is just shuffling chairs)

    Example:
    1) FICA temporary or permanent holiday
    2) simply quit selling T-bonds (imaginary “debt” vanishes, poof)

    There would be an explosive release of pent-up activity in this country. If the $US exchange rate went down, some millionaires would briefly scream, but WalMart & everyone else would simply turn to sourcing in-state instead of from overseas. We’d quit buying Saudi oil, and both the Cheney & Bush families would take a hit, but they’d STILL own Texas, so don’t lose any sleep over it.

    Any other suggestions?

  • warren October 30, 2010, 5:27 pm

    the capos give the orders and the lieutenants follow them

  • Steve October 27, 2010, 3:42 am

    Thanks JohnJay !

  • JohnJay October 27, 2010, 2:46 am

    We can argue forever about the exact methods used, and the perps culpable for the evisceration of the good old USA we all knew and loved.
    In any event, turn out the lights, the parties over!
    As soon as the mid term elections are over and the new DC crew begins to deal and steal, I look forward to the looting reaching a final crescendo.
    By the time the next Presidential election rolls around, there will be little if anything left to steal.
    TPTB will then tell the USA proles that’s the way it is, get used to a Bombay slum existence.
    Good night, and good luck!

  • Steve October 27, 2010, 1:11 am

    Ben,

    Fraudulent Misrepresention – is a representation contrary to the fact, made by a person with knowledge of its falsehood, and being the cause of the other party entering into the contract.

    Fraud – An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another into reliance upon it to part with some valuable belonging to him, or to surrender a legal right; a false representation [misrepresenation], . . . which deceives. . .Brainard Dispatch Newspaper Co. V Crow Wing county, 196 Minn.

    Fraud in Treaty – – –
    Fraud Order – – –
    Fraudare – – –
    Fraudulent Alienation
    Fraudulent
    Fraudulent Alienee
    Fraudulent Concealment
    Fraudulent Conversion
    Fraudulent Conveyance
    Fraudulent Conveyances, Statutes of, or Against
    FRAUDULENT OR DISHONEST ACT – One which involves bad faith, a breach of honesty, as want of integrity, or moral terpitude, Harford Ace. & Indem. Co. v. Singer, 185 Va. 620, 39 S.E. 2d. 505, 507, 508.
    Fraudulent Preferences
    Fraudulent Representation – A false statement as to material fact. . . Mitchel v. Mitchel 206 N.C. 546, 174 S.E. 447, 448.

  • Chester Hazlewood October 27, 2010, 12:02 am

    I’m not too impressed these days with the products of academia. Maybe we can get a better understanding of the mind of people like Greenspan and Bernanke if we question their mental capabilities.

    This is from Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum:

    Morons are tricky. You can spot a fool right away (not to mention the cretin), but the moron reasons almost the way you do; the gap is infinitesimal. A moron is a master of paralogism. For an editor, it’s bad news. It can take him an eternity to identify a moron. Plenty of morons’ books are published, because they’re convincing at first glance. An editor is not required to weed out the morons. If the Academy of Sciences doesn’t do it, why should he?

    “Philosophers don’t either. Saint Anselm’s ontological argument is moronic, for example. God must exist because I can conceive Him as a being perfect in all ways, including existence. The saint confuses existence in thought with existence in reality.”

    “True, but Graunilon’s refutation is moronic, too. I can think of an Island in the sea even if the island doesn’t exist. He confuses thinking of the possible with thinking of the necessary.”

  • gary leibowitz October 26, 2010, 11:24 pm

    It’s a natural emotional response during times like this to lash out. The frustration level is at an extreme. Rationally, how can anyone blame Bernanke for doing his job? There will never eve be a single person in such an important role that would do otherwise. Not a one. Imagine if you were placed in his position and actually had total control in implementing any and everything you think up. What exactly would you do different? Allow all the banks and financial engines to fail? Yeah that might feel good for the moment but what would be the result?

    Bottom line, without faith that the system remains solvent all financial transactions cease. If that means rewarding the crooks so be it. If it means inflating our way to solvency, or trashing the dollar, so be it.

    If you want to place blame where it belongs start with his predecessor. Better yet we can go back to the golden years where we actually had a government surplus. That got spent down at a rate that is mind boggling, and by the very same party that boasts of austerity. Where was the outrage when everyone saw the housing bubble develop?

    Finally if you really want to place blame I suggest you wait 6 more months. The so called tea party that comes to office, with a Joe Six Pack mentality, and a naïve notion that there are simple answers could be target number one. The number one priority for the republicans/tea party is to cut social welfare and to extend the Bush tax cuts to the mega rich. I wonder just how well that will play out if we fall into another depression.

    Does anyone really think that after 8 years with Bush our economic ills would be cured? We had an 8 year spending spree with the only consequence being a falling dollar. I can’t seem to remember the outrage develop during those times. I guess the “let the good times roll” placated the masses from questioning a most obvious outcome.

    Do we ever think beyond our current needs and wants?

    • Larry October 27, 2010, 2:05 am

      You’ve succinctly summed up that folks believe that the President runs the economy, why they put up with a corrupt status quo, and why nothing will ever change, because meddlers have an overriding need to save us from *_____* (insert unfathomable horror here).

      So, as the juggernaut approaches a cliff, what apparently needs to done is more of what got the juggernaut rolling. If excessive spending is bad, REALLY excessive spending will cure it…Dig? Living beyond our collective means? Just revalue the currency.

      Where was the outrage when the housing bubble developed?…well, which Nostradamus knew it was a bubble until after it popped? I’d suggest many, many more in 2010 than in 2005. I wasn’t outraged then, I was in despair. I read a comment by Rep. Frank where, paraphrased, he basically desired a bubble. This reducio ad absurdium rep from Massachusetts deserves as much scorn as the tea party you are already giving advance blame to for our present foibles.

      I blame Bush. I blame Obama. I blame Clinton for Glass-Steagal. But most of all, I blame Congress.

  • SDavid October 26, 2010, 10:32 pm

    http://seekingalpha.com/article/232243-remember-the-gold-yuan-of-1949-beijing-does

  • ben October 26, 2010, 10:28 pm

    Ok…it seems it’s a bit too difficult for some people to google “statute of frauds”…so here’s what it means accoridng to wiki…”the requirement that certain kinds of contracts be memorialized in a signed writing.” It made no sense in the context the author used it…whether you switch around the S or not…and it succeeded in blasting the author’s credibility whether he raised a couple valid points or not.

    Steve…I’m not sure if your’re being sarcastic, or are even more clueless than the author of the article (unless you are the same Steve that wrote it). Shepardize the history of money? LOL ! Did you go to law school and drop out after the first week? Only legal cases get “Shepardized”…you can’t Shepardize the history of money. And it is funny how you presume you will debunk anything I write about the history of money before I said a single thing about it. What if you agree with everything I say? It seems like you think using technical words bolsters your arguments or makes you seem smarter…it does not…not to me. Why not just talk clearly, about things you understand?

    With all due respect to your 98 year old mother. She proabably should not be investing or even handling her own financial matters at such an age. She also is old enough to remember gold and silver coins circulating freely among paper dollars, and she should not have allowed herself to be lulled into believing in a paper currency. I never supported stealing from the masses through unsound monetary policy. It is absurd to read anything I said as implying this. What I said was that governments will be irresponsible and print away the value of all currencies…so just own as little of it as you can.

    • Benjamin October 26, 2010, 11:39 pm

      For all that this probably ain’t my business…

      “it seems it’s a bit too difficult for some people to google “statute of frauds”…”

      So he maybe should’ve said “fraudulent policies” instead. Then again, maybe he was playing on one aspect of a SoF that also means a contract that can’t be fulfilled on the shorter timeline. Or maybe it was the aspect that involves the transfer of land (property).

      Whatever the case, it wasn’t such a torturous stretch of definition and imagination.

      Anyway, since you were kind enough to educate us as to what a statute of frauds was, allow me to reciprocate. ‘Shepardize the history of money’ is not misuse or abuse of words. Shepardize: cite cases, statutes, or other legal authorities. Give the legal history of money, ie. It can be done!

    • Steve October 26, 2010, 11:58 pm

      Actually Ben. My 98 year old mother is sharper than you are seeing you want to get personal.

    • Steve October 27, 2010, 12:40 am

      And Ben,

      I have on hand the shepardization of money by Dr. Edwin Vieria, who made the presentation for Reagan in 1985 when they began coining Coin again as Specie Money Legal Tender. So, I was prepared to counterpunch any arguments with facts, and law, yet; once again the attack dog barks loudly, with no history, or knowledge of the distinctions between Organic Law, and mobocracy. A google search to find out what Blackstones Commentary on the English Common Law opines in regard to the Oral Common Law – or did you go that far? Did you bother to go to Leviticus to discover Right and Wrong? So you relied upon a service of democracy to discover what is dialectic in anarchy.

      You are right Ben, on the statute of frauds.

      All; in the world of corruption, sin, outlawry, assent to legalization of crimes, under your Google search, yet; at the same time you are absolutely wrong in thought, theory, and personal greed with the money changers in dialectic theory on misrepresentations. The sphere of democracy is the sphere in which wrongs are right, ie; it is right to steal from the elderly because it is legalized in outlawry in the Hole in the Wall. What the people do in stealing the savings of the elderly by failing to demand ‘value’ in currency is legalized, yet; anyone who does appears lacking in character.

      Dear Ben, do you understand Organic Misrepresentation as one of the statutes of fraud?

      Dialectic reality Ben, you are RIGHT in the sphere of anarchy, mobocracy, democracy, Northern Senate Rebellion, the Commerce Clause, the 14th amendment, and The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 via a unalatarian(sp) theory of commander in chief.

      I will give you the individual Statutes in Oregon for the various frauds if you like. I have them put away in hard copy. Naw!

      It is really tough to be caught stealing the wealth of Old/Elderly honest and moral people via skullduggery. How cowardly to impugn my Mother, whom you do not know, just to justify the immoral theft of savings by illegitimate, and childish greed.

      You would libel, and slander President Lincoln to cover greed in immoral gain – yes ! All to justify the theft of honest old people’s savings. All, under high school debate theories of avoiding the question and attacking the individual. Small inferior game.

      As to the ignorance in regard to misrepresentation in Organic Law, versus, the new feudal paradigm mobocracy, once again I was prepared to counterpunch any fact you presented, but; once again the liberal tradition of presenting no deep fact persists in personal attacks the refuse to address the matters at hand.

      I allow your words to stand witness to greed, personal insult, and the inability to address the issue with facts.

      How bad does it hurt to have everyone know what you are ?

    • Steve October 27, 2010, 1:15 am

      Ben,

      Fraudulent Misrepresention – is a representation contrary to the fact, made by a person with knowledge of its falsehood, and being the cause of the other party entering into the contract.

      Fraud – An intentional perversion of truth for the purpose of inducing another into reliance upon it to part with some valuable belonging to him, or to surrender a legal right; a false representation [misrepresenation], . . . which deceives. . .Brainard Dispatch Newspaper Co. V Crow Wing county, 196 Minn.

      Fraud in Treaty – – –
      Fraud Order – – –
      Fraudare – – –
      Fraudulent Alienation
      Fraudulent
      Fraudulent Alienee
      Fraudulent Concealment
      Fraudulent Conversion
      Fraudulent Conveyance
      Fraudulent Conveyances, Statutes of, or Against
      FRAUDULENT OR DISHONEST ACT – One which involves bad faith, a breach of honesty, as want of integrity, or moral terpitude, Harford Ace. & Indem. Co. v. Singer, 185 Va. 620, 39 S.E. 2d. 505, 507, 508.
      Fraudulent Preferences
      Fraudulent Representation – A false statement as to material fact. . . Mitchel v. Mitchel 206 N.C. 546, 174 S.E. 447, 448.

      Now, did I misunderstand what you meant in regard to the various statutes that cover each individual fraud?

    • ben October 27, 2010, 5:01 am

      Benjamin…You are completely wrong…I used to be a legal lexicographer…and I’m trying to say this tangentially and not as any evidence of my authority on the matter. So let me expound on Shepard’s. It is a trademark for a service that provides legal citations for US cases. You can not Shepardize anything but a case, and you can only do it using Shepard’s service.

      As an analogy, let’s look at “Google” as a verb. You can only “Google” something by searching for it on Google’s website. I can not “Google” something on Yahoo’s search engine. I can not “Google” a word I don’t know in my pocket dictionary. I can not “Google” the history of money in my Encyclopedia Britannica that is sitting in my attic. I can only “Google” it by typing in “history of money” on the Google website and hitting the enter key.

      It is the same thing with Shepard’s. Peace.

    • ben October 27, 2010, 5:07 am

      Steve…I tried poking a few holes in your fluff, and I now find myself swimming in a marshmallow river. I have no desire to respond to you, in part because I would not even know where to begin. Let me just say it was not my intent to rattle you, but to just try to educate others in some small way. When I read what you wrote… I feel we are just speaking two different versions of English and we are forever incomprehensible to each other. Be well.

    • ben October 27, 2010, 5:14 am

      Oh…and Steve…congrats on having your article posted by Rick.

      &&&&&

      I’d be pleased to post yours as well, Ben. Got any crazy ideas that deserve to be aired in 400 or more words? If so, e-mail them to rick@rickackerman.com
      RA

    • Steve October 27, 2010, 6:56 am

      Ben;
      Should I touch the Tar Baby? Awh heck, I’ve already got my hands stuck in the black muck. I’m always amazed by the people who throw insults, and then wonder why someone bends their nose. I saw it many times as I cleaned up the messes in bars where some liberal, short man complex, thought insulting people in a way that was likely to provoke a violent response got their nose bent, plus; numerous intelligence lumps on their forehead and cheeks. We used to have Dueling ala. Arron Burr to confront English Banking slavery as the intent of the treasury Department. The criminal statutes used to say that when one acted in a way that was likely to provoke a violent response, that he was the criminal for instigation of a crime. Slowly that is changing, and; well, it’s like gun control, promoted by tyrants, and would be tyrants who live in fear.

      Shepardizing has come down in common usage to: follow something to its roots via linear progression. It’s sorta like Whirlpool, or Maytag meaning clothes washer. While I respect the intellect. I believe it is very good that there is recognition that the language of anarchy/democracy/ mobocracy is a foreign language, which is abhorrent to the Peace and Dignity of Free States, and Free People. I encourage you to learn the language of Peace, instead of the language of causa bella. It is sad that the adjectives of abuse are such a part of the being of the words rendered by you. Thanks for Being, and admitting the delusion of the arguments founded upon picking on honesty/ morality, and the ‘use’ of “fluffy” personal insults when you have no idea about whom you speak, and what they have faced in life. You don’t know where to start, OK. I’d say I ripped you a new one when I counterpunched with what fraud/misrepresenation is as Bernanke commits theft by inauthenticity, and disingenuineness. Want to talk contract breach by
      Bernanke, or individual breach of United States Statute I, or 4 U.S.C. 1, by intentional misrepresentation and cowardly swagger – OK? Bernanke can remove himself from his wrongdoing at any moment, and he should. Yet, Bernanke is nothing more than a moth that cannot remove its self from the candle light, and flame that awaits. The same should be said for anyone who intentionally gains from the misery of a generation who believed in morality, and peace after enduring the Great Depression. If there were young Men today they would be standing up for Article I, sec. 8, cls. 5, and Article I, sec. 10, cls. 1, but NO ! I understand the language you speak perfectly Ben. I also know that if one is not part of the solution, one IS THE PROBLEM. Bernanke is, because liberal bigotry feeds on the mental process of Bernanke speak using adjectives and assault as the best and only tools of liberalism, progressivism, Marx, and Machiavelli. If you wish to test the Iron, come around again and I’ll set up another set of facts to confront the blow. Maybe Rick will give you a chance, just remind me that its you at the start so I remember something about you. Otherwise I’ll just address the facts, and/or inauthenticity.

  • kiwidude October 26, 2010, 10:02 pm

    Mario covers it well (as he usually does). However, there are a few points that I would like to make:
    – A lot of what Obama and Bernanke are dealing with they inherited from previous ‘regimes’. I am not saying that they are dealing with it well, just that they are sitting in a poker game with a pair of threes and trying to win the pot. A LOT of bluffing is going on.
    – It is difficult to understand what experience you would expect someone in this situatiuon to have. Very few if any are left who understand what happened in the 30’s. What Bernanke is trying to do is the exact opposite to what was done in the 30’s because clearly that didn’t work. I don’t have a lot of faith that it will work either though.
    – A lot of the blame belongs to those in the public who borrowed and spent without putting any thought to how they were going to pay the money back. Again it comes back to the guys who were in charge then that cultivated the attitudes that moeny was cheap.
    – I look at the advertising all around us and are constantly mystified as to why any standards organisation would let them be aired. They are so obviously and overtly trying to make us feel unhappy with our lives and buying just this one more thing will make us feel so much happier.
    – On GM, I can’t believe that a government can get away with what is so blatantly a pump and dump scheme. I fully expect if they don’t look like they are going to get the price they want for the shares that there will be a second round of ‘cash for clunkers’

    Keep the good ideas flowing guys.

  • ben October 26, 2010, 8:01 pm

    Rick. Why are you posting this pretentious drivel? The author has not a clue and thinks he knows oh so much. Let me just start with this…”misrepresentation under the statutes of fraud”…huh? Did he mean “statute of frauds”? Neither of them make any sense in the context. It’s ok to be angry about the economy…but to write about it you need a little knowledge about what you are writing.

    As for blaming Bernanke…come on. He’s just a useful idiot…a tool for the banks or whoever is pulling the strings. If he came out and said we are going to go on a precious metal standard and start acting fiscally responsible…he’d be either dead or resigning by the end of the day.

    And as for things are playing out with the parabolic government debt and money creation…I say let nature take its course. Their irresponsibility is good for my investments. As for the hapless people who have savings account in dollars or one of the myriad other intrisically worthless currencies…caveat emptor! Maybe spend a little less time watching tv and browsing through malls, and more time learning about money and history. Eventually the ignorant will learn the truth and that’s when they’ll be willing to part with their cars, houses, and all their worldly possessions for a bag of silver dollars. It happened in 1923 in Germany…it happened in the USA in 1980…it happened in most countries around the globe at some point in the past century. And it will surely happen again.

    Go by gold, silver, mining shares…or anything but dollars at 2% interest. And don’t cry about the destruction of the dollar…profit from it.

    • Benjamin October 26, 2010, 8:38 pm

      “The author has not a clue and thinks he knows oh so much.…”misrepresentation under the statutes of fraud”…huh? Did he mean “statute of frauds”?”

      So… the placement of an S, otherwise acceptable in a game of Scrabble, invalidates the idea? A bit of overkill on the nit-picking there, don’t ya thing?

      As for the profits, in the end, only real increases in productivity creates profits. If all the Darwin Award economists are generating real profits, then that justifies keeping them around. But it isn’t justified because they aren’t; while such increases in real productivity have been taking place in recent years, that’s in spite of the “masters”, not because of them, and if the real profits had outpaced their handling of things, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

      As for the worthless riff-raff, you might want to add to your list of deep and thoughtful reasons to be disgusted by them that they work, or try to keep working, have BEEN trying to do that so as to make life work… not just watch TV and shop (which they haven’t been doing so much of late anyhow).

    • Steve October 26, 2010, 9:40 pm

      Ben, tell me what the statute of frauds is, where it exists, in time, space, and plane, and whether it is de Jure, or de Facto in nature. Cite the facts, and I will rebut with cites, and quotes. Shepardize the history of money. I know this forum will be interested in the History of Money from another perspective. If necessary I will counterpunch holes in the theory of money factually, not by innuendo and nuance unsupported. Does this entity, non-description, exist in the sphere of mobocracy, or exterior of that negative sphere as negative enforcement creating a positive?

      My 98 year old mother should not be investing in the risks you talk about Ben. She should be able to be secure in the currency, and honest interest from the pennies she pinched and saved. How crass, to justify personal gain, by stealing honesty, and sound monetary policy from an old Woman. Justification of wrongdoing as an excuse to profit is just what Ben?

    • keith October 27, 2010, 2:39 am

      If he came out and said we are going to go on a precious metal standard and start acting fiscally responsible…he’d be either dead or resigning by the end of the day.

      you ain’t lying either!

  • rmsimc October 26, 2010, 7:33 pm

    “…what in fact would any of us really do if weighing the complexity of all the factors in these guys shoes? It is oversimplistic to say that any right-minded though mis-guided political leader would almost never make choices that would further plunge an economy in trouble deeper into trouble…”

    Mario, as usual, makes a(n) (uncomfortable) point. Lets face it, the toothpaste is out of the tube. With our current governance system, substantive change cannot ever occur. Its much akin to an addict. The ruling class is “hooked” on fiat simply owed to the fact that the populous is “hooked” on handouts. This was all presaged by our Forefathers when they surely indicated the dangers inherent in fiat and the formation of a central banking authority. I think it was Jefferson that said something to the effect that a democratic republic can exist only as long as the folks don’t realize they can raid the treasury (of course, I’m paraphrasing). And raid the treasury we have. All that we have left are IOU’s.

    Well to answer the “what to do” question…I submit that first WE- STOP- DIGGING!!!! Freeze all spending, all regulation and all tax rates. And…let business know this is the plan. Following this necessary first step, we begin to discuss what we can do to put us back on track; but opining about such grandiouse revolutionary change at this point is simply bloviating.

    Mario…I disagree with with your statement that moving toward central planning is “justified.” You are old enough to have been taught liase faire. So I should not have to point out the problems with “moral hazard.” Once-upon-a-time risk was kept in check by the promise of potential ruin.

  • fallingman October 26, 2010, 5:47 pm

    Bernanke is doing what he was told to do all right, but it isn’t Congress or the President doing the telling.

    You don’t have to look too closely to see that these miscreants all have strings on their backs and are controlled by the same puppetmaster … the combine they used to call “the money power.”

  • walter fields October 26, 2010, 3:58 pm

    What is this pathological condition which has swept this republic? Let’s call it ‘belief”. It sure ain’t the fault of
    the Nixons, Clintons, Obamas and assorted psychopaths
    who have floated to the top of the pond. You can call it
    what you will – ‘finance’, ‘government’, ‘media’ – it’s all
    in the italics, and italics rules. ‘Bewitched by language’,
    Wittgenstein’s great phrase, is the plague of the west.
    Logorrhea is the carrier and there can never be too many
    carriers. A trance is induced as soon as the Times or
    CNN holds forth. Break bread sometime with a
    journalist and marvel at his capacity for tautology
    and contradiction. They are paid well for the murder
    of inference. As the man said, ‘If you can’t get up to
    Mozart’s level you can always drag him down to yours’.
    Nice is not a value, so beware my children when some-
    one tells you – up close and personal – have a nice day.
    Walter Fields

  • Villiam October 26, 2010, 3:35 pm

    We have all been had. The power brokers have cleaned the clocks of Americans every which way except Sunday!

    I had a three bears dream early in 1999. Happy bear (what we still have on-going!) Big Sad Black Bear: Stock Market Crash….and sad little bear….Depression.

    Despite the numberous warnings….to prepare for the devastating future…most folks just go on thinking everything is going to be o.k…..

    One day the stress will be just too much and the entire world system will crash. One day the ‘black card’ which is slowly rising to the surface will be overturned.

    Then it’s over. Too late…too late.

    Buy U.S. Junk Silver Coins and take possession now!

    w

  • coolsaint October 26, 2010, 3:21 pm

    So much for an education in the good old usa.

  • GMC October 26, 2010, 3:16 pm

    Congress is bought and paid for by the same people that pull Bernanke’s strings.

  • dan October 26, 2010, 1:36 pm

    END the FED… Vote Them ALL Out…

  • keith October 26, 2010, 7:00 am

    I cringe at writing this but let’s do it anyway. What I submit is that Bernanke is fully capable to handle the issues of the U.S. money supply. The blame is not on the federal reserve but rather congress and the presidency who control and manipulate the federal reserve. I’m not going to elaborate further. If you’re interested then check out my opinions in “Stocks Primed to Plunge, Says Our Man Chuck” in the forum commentary. It’s all there.

    • mario cavolo October 26, 2010, 8:03 am

      Hi Keith,

      So perhaps as we suggest that any man who president is a more or less powerless puppet getting his strings pulled to impotency by the power brokers around him, you’re suggesting Bernanke is in a similar position, circumstances and powerbrokers around him more or less dictating the choices. While I’ve not done the level of research to add much to the discussion, its not such an outrageous suggestion on your part.

      I did ask the question before on this forum, what in fact would any of us really do if weighing the complexity of all the factors in these guys shoes? It is oversimplistic to say that any right-minded though mis-guided political leader would almost never make choices that would further plunge an economy in trouble deeper into trouble, so he’d choose to print! That might be easy to swallow, but the problem along the way is the corruption, how they rigged and screwed everyone else along the way. That’s the despicable part. They made choices that now dictate in our world financial system a future of unavoidable, painful inflation and/or collapsing deflation for the entire planet. We’ve got ourselves a global macro version of some rich 3rd world dictator living in his palace while the serfs outside in the city suffer and grind. In the course of my 50 years, I have seen this world morph, justifiably grown less and less in favor of free capitalism, free accumulation of wealth because like it or not somewhere along the line the human nature of greed and self-interest sneaks up. Actually folks, let’s not kid ourselves, the course of human history is some version of this same theme over and over again. The part that bugs me more than anything is how leaders of countries now and through out history greedily swimming in money can actually let their society toil and suffer as they do. Alas, at the least we can make a difference right where we are, affecting the space and people around us in some good way.

      Cheers, Mario

    • Benjamin October 26, 2010, 8:15 am

      http://www.rickackerman.com/2010/10/politics-as-usual-or-is-it-a-revolution/#comment-12280

      Checked the article you refered to, but I think the linked one is the one you meant.

      Okay, before we talk about Fred and Frannie, let’s talk about 1913, long before those two were a nessecary cog in the machine to keep it going. The whole idea (imo) behind the central bank was to compensate for the inadequacies of other policies (like demon(iti)zing silver for a total gold standard). The Fed didn’t seem to resist its creation. Did it resist at any time before Freddie and Fannie came along?

      And yet, you might be right that the modern day Fed can manage the “dollar” better… by ending it. If you’ve never read the most bizare story, as told by Bix Weir, here it is. Part of it, anyway…

      http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/101.cfm

      He might be right about Greenspan. But Bernanke as a deliberate sabateur? I wouldn’t bet a finger nail on it, let alone my liver.

    • keith October 26, 2010, 8:37 pm

      Yeah my mistake. You found the right tout. I’ll check out the link you sent too.

  • Eric October 26, 2010, 5:38 am

    I cant stand Donald Trump but he is needed to say Your Fired to the pack of theives running our monetary system. Its crazy that the crooks have actually profited in this economic scam. All the seniors in my family are horrified that they have to resort to Money market rates at .80 to 1% a lifetime of savings is not even paying the basic bills. 500k in fiat cash in the bank pays 5K year tops before taxes. This guy should be fired. I tell you if people in there late 70’s-80’s who have been cheap and saved every penny from hard work there entire life are deciding to give the money to the family without even asking then you know the dollar is toast and Bernanke is the chef. If QE2 is a reality im going 100 percent in metals. QE2 should be illegal.

    &&&&

    It’s bad enough that Fed policy has reduced the reward to savers to nearly nothing, but it is far worse that the savings are being expropriated for use mainly by financial speculators, consumers and marginally qualified home-buyers. RA

    • Mercurious October 27, 2010, 6:23 am

      Eric, I recommend you go 100% into metals without waiting to find out . This group is completely incapable of truth telling; the American people are the unwilling–and mostly unaware–virgins thrown into a volcano of monetary theory with the vain hope of propitiating their god of theories, theories, theories. I decided to use 100% metal as my savings base a couple of years ago and it has worked out beautifully. I think if anyone looks rationally at whether there is more risk in traditional savings vehicles or ‘risky’ vehicles like metals, the actual facts of the situation dictate manageable risk is to be found on the hard asset side. America is truly at a crossroad, I believe. We will know in a few years if we’ve taken Franklin’s advice to heart and kept our republic, or if we are going down with the statists and theorists. Normally a pessimist, I happen to think the firestorm coming is going to cleanse the nation of these clowns. I would not want to be a central banker or federal poohbah in the next few years. It might get very uncomfortable for them…at least one can hope.

  • SDavid October 26, 2010, 5:37 am

    It’s sad “higher ups” who have never really worked for a living are the ones talking about job creation, when it is the working class that created the jobs for these people preaching job creation in the first place. Let’s erect a building starting with the roof. That is the mindset anymore. It doesn’t work in construction and it doesn’t work in the economy. It starts from the ground and works its way up, not vice versa. The trickle-down effect? Sounds like an idea created by the wealthy, who had no thoughts of sharing in the first place.

    • cosmo October 26, 2010, 6:46 pm

      Thats why they call it a trickle…one penny at a time

  • Arnold October 26, 2010, 5:34 am

    The Congress must remove Bernanke from his position, before he destroys the U.S. dollar and economy.

  • Benjamin October 26, 2010, 5:19 am

    Blowing off steam, hitting nails on the head, or driving in nails with a steam-powered hammer?

    Whatever it is Steve is doing, it’s not the first option. These clowns know they can’t be hired outside of their political/ivory towers. That’s why they carry on like this, with an audience increasingly either laughing at them or wishing them dead.

    And theory… Ha! If the free market needed this crap called a Ponzi scheme in order to save itself from itself, it would’ve been employing it already and Ol’ Benny would be… where, in life? What would he be doing? Right. Not occupying a position in an organization that wouldn’t even exist!

    So I’ve got a job for him… all of ’em, actually, which would work muuuch better than the “noble deeds” they’re doing now: We need more people in lead boots to test the ocean for depth!


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