Should the ‘Man of the Year’ be the Man of the Hour? |
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| Posted by The Exploited Intern on Dec 17 2009 |
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 Wednesday’s interview by Jim Lehrer on Fed Chair Ben Bernanke underscored the problem facing the future of government regulation for the financial markets. The voice for stability and continuity, Alice Rivlin, praised Bernanke as the man who saved us all and advocated keeping him on for another term. On the other side, ADA Vice-President James Galbraith, pointed out that we would not have needed saving if Bernanke had been on the ball in the first place.
The truth is that the problems that nearly collapsed the markets in 2008 had been building for years. Furthermore the regulatory system that allowed this to happen has been in place just as long, if not longer. Was the crash Bernanke’s fault, no. That said, he should have at least been seen doing something when economist around the world started seeing the writing on the wall.
The Administration re-nominated Bernanke because he represented the forces (Congress, the Administration, Treasury, and Fed) that came together and stopped the great recession from unfolding into a great depression. Whether or not Bernanke should be reconfirmed as Fed Chair should have less to do with what he has done and more to do with what he will do. Will he take on the hedge funds? Will he help Main Street even if it means tightening the belt of Wall Street? If the answer to these questions is yes then give him another shot. He has the experience and is already a known entity to Congress and thus has the best shot of pushing though the badly needed reforms. Plus he was just named Time magazine’s Man of the Year; that’s just the sort of political capital to give him the momentum to get something done.
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