Bernanke On Lehman Regret: I Shouldn’t Have Been a Liar and a Fat Mouth
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
Alright so he didn’t come out and admit he’s a big fat liar but it’s about the closest to that admission as we might ever get so enjoy it, kids.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said he regretted not saying in congressional testimony shortly after the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008 that the central bank had no authority to save the firm.
The testimony at the time “has supported this myth that we did have a way of saving Lehman,” Bernanke said in response to questions during a Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission hearing in Washington today. “I regret not being more straightforward there because clearly it has supported the mistaken impression that in fact we could have done something.”
Is Bernanke sure that the Fed had the authority to save the firms they did? Is Maiden Lane (I, II and III) within the Fed’s authority? Is it in the Fed’s authority to lie and say the crap they took on their balance sheet isn’t really junk grade like it is?
Me thinks the baldy doth protest too much.
