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Welcome to Bernanke Panky! We aim to track the every move of the man "market skeptics" love to hate, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairmen, Ben Bernanke! Check out BP features including forums, original articles and commentary, and resources to aid in understanding the Fed and it's impact on the economy. Tune in!
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Bernanke Bytes — On the Money!
- Corruption, Culpability and Short-Termism " People are increasingly collectively horrified at the extent of the fraud and corruption that lies at the heart of our financial and broader governance structures. They seem surprised, as if this were something new, when in it has actually been growing in tandem with our credit hyper-expansion for decades. Corruption in complex systems never goes away, it merely waxes and wanes, and goes through phases where it is more or less visible." (02/08/2010 03:14 PM )
- Geithner’s “Mortgage Mods A Success” Claim Is Ludicrous " 66,000 loan mods has given millions of Americans more financial security? The most these programs have done is to slow the rate of decline in the housing market and create the illusion of a false bottom. Geithner's done no more for "rescuing" the housing market than Al Gore did for the internet." (02/08/2010 01:36 PM )
- US Sovereign Credit Risk and Inflation " The bond market vigilantes of yore have returned to the credit default swap market. They see governments worldwide as revving up the printing presses to pay off the nominal bad debts they acquired from the private sector. A debt paid via inflation is a debt repudiated. We're going to see this struggle between governments and their creditors play out in 2010 and maybe longer. It might not be very pretty." (02/08/2010 01:32 PM )
- The Fed’s “Exit Plan” Is Just Another Secret Gift To Wall Street "The idea behind giving the banks cheap money was that the banks would lend it to consumers and businesses. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened" (02/08/2010 11:43 AM )
- Goldman Parachute for Geithner? ``... unlike the perpetrators of the Watergate scandal, who wound up facing jail time, Geithner evidently has a golden parachute waiting at Goldman Sachs, not coincidentally the largest recipient of the AIG bailout. At least that is the rumor sparked by an article by Caroline Baum on Bloomberg News, titled "Goldman Parachute Awaits Geithner to Ease Fall." Hank Paulson, Geithner's predecessor, was CEO of Goldman Sachs before coming to the Treasury. Geithner, who has come up through the ranks of government, could be walking through the revolving door in the other direction.'' (02/07/2010 09:58 PM )
- It Is Now Mathematically Impossible To Pay Off The U.S. National Debt ``A lot of people are very upset about the rapidly increasing U.S. national debt these days and they are demanding a solution. What they don't realize is that there simply is not a solution under the current U.S. financial system. It is now mathematically impossible for the U.S. government to pay off the U.S. national debt. You see, the truth is that the U.S. government now owes more dollars than actually exist.'' (02/07/2010 03:27 PM )
- G-7 Vows to Keep Economic Stimulus Even as Budget Deficits Grow " Group of Seven finance ministers pledged to press ahead with economic stimulus measures even as investors intensify their focus on mounting budget deficits." (02/07/2010 01:23 PM )
- Could Ben Bernanke Be a CEO? "Ben Bernanke has got to be laughing it up after being reappointed to another term as Federal Reserve chairman. What else could we expect from the ex-lawyers and lifetime Beltway bandits voting on global monetary policy?" (02/07/2010 11:11 AM )