I’m going on a Mish Blitz, here’s the first.
Bernanke Goes On Self-Promotional Media Blitz
Before discussing Bernanke’s self-promotional blitz, let’s take a look a the Fed’s massive coverup job on its balance sheet.
Eliot Spitzer, the former governor and attorney-general of New York says Federal Reserve is ‘a Ponzi scheme, an inside job’.
In a wide-ranging discussion of the bank bailouts on MSNBC’s Morning Meeting, host Dylan Ratigan described the process by which the Federal Reserve exchanged $13.9 trillion of bad bank debt for cash that it gave to the struggling banks.
Spitzer — who built a reputation as “the Sheriff of Wall Street” for his zealous prosecutions of corporate crime as New York’s attorney-general and then resigned as the state’s governor over revelations he had paid for prostitutes — seemed to agree with Ratigan that the bank bailout amounts to “America’s greatest theft and cover-up ever.”
Advocating in favor of a House bill to audit the Federal Reserve, Spitzer said: “The Federal Reserve has benefited for decades from the notion that it is quasi-autonomous, it’s supposed to be independent. Let me tell you a dirty secret: The Fed has done an absolutely disastrous job since [former Fed Chairman] Paul Volcker left.
“The reality is the Fed has blown it. Time and time again, they blew it. Bubble after bubble, they failed to understand what they were doing to the economy.
Bernanke Goes On Media Blitz
Bernanke is mindful of the fact that he has done a horrible job. In an attempt to change perceptions, Bernanke has gone on a media blitz attempting to whitewash the Fed’s failures, while seeking still more power for the Fed.
The Fed’s media blitz started in March as noted by a Cream Puff Interview With Bernanke On 60 Minutes.
Bernanke stepped up his advertising campaign this weekend in a town hall meeting on public TV. The show will air this week in three installments on PBS’ "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."
Jim Lehrer invited questions and comments in advance. Here is the question/comment that I submitted.
Hello Ben
Given that you failed miserably to see what was coming, how can giving the Fed more regulatory power possibly fix anything? I have a better idea, let’s get rid of the Fed totally along with its micro-mismanagement of interest rates that repetitively blows bubbles of increasing amplitude. Face the facts Ben, you no more know where interest rates should be than you know where the price of orange juice should be. The housing bubble and subsequent collapse that you failed to see coming is proof enough of your ineptitude. Only the free market knows what the price of money should be at any given time. Regardless, you sure don’t know. How about coming up with a 5 year plan to abolish the Fed?
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Think they will use my question? I don’t.
