From NY TImes -- Breaking

[TimeToGo]

"White House Official Says Bush Picks Ben Bernanke, Economic Aide, to Succeed Greenspan at Fed"

[whirlygigspin]

1. What? did he run out of horse trainers?

whoah Nellie

[xultar]

2. Maybe he was president of the caddie association or something.

[Cactus44]

3. But, but, but he has EXPERIENCE!! And QUALIFICATIONS!!!

What is Bush thinking?!?!?!?!?

[ozymandius]

4. Again, like Miers, he is the most qualified person.

*Ahem* The most qualified person within thirty feet of his desk.

[Oreo]

5. Bio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bernanke
Wiki has it as a done deal:
Having been generally considered to be among the leading contenders to replace Alan Greenspan as Chairman of the Fed when Greenspan retires from that position after chairing his final FOMC meeting on January 31, 2006, he was nominated to the position by President Bush on October 24, 2005.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/bbernankebio.html

Biography of Dr. Ben S. Bernanke

Dr. Ben S. Bernanke Ben S. Bernanke was sworn-in on June 21, 2005 as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Prior to his appointment to the Council, Dr. Bernanke served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Dr. Bernanke was born on December 13, 1953, in Augusta, Georgia. He received a B.A. in economics in 1975 from Harvard University (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in economics in 1979 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Before becoming a member of the Board, Dr. Bernanke was the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Chair of the Economics Department at Princeton University (1996-2002). Dr. Bernanke had served as a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton since 1985.

Dr. Bernanke has published many articles on a wide variety of economic issues, including monetary policy and macroeconomics, and he is the author of several scholarly books and two textbooks. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Sloan Fellowship, and he is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Bernanke served as the Director of the Monetary Economics Program of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and as a member of the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee. Dr. Bernanke's work with civic and professional groups includes having served two terms as a member of the Montgomery Township (N.J.) Board of Education.

Dr. Bernanke and his wife, Anna, have two children.

[w8liftinglady]

10. also,his CV(with links)

http://www.princeton.edu/~bernanke/htmlcv.htm

[pretzel4gore]

6. why's greenspan leaving? what a mess that ass has past off to us

it's a disgrace...ayn rand must be dancing alone in her grave, with joy at the mess her best student has made of happy capitalism squandered on the public dime...'that'll teach em' she's saying (referring to the communist people of america/the world)

[MADem]

12. He has been there forever, and he is getting old

He has a bad back, soaks an hour in the tub every morning, in very hot water....

[pretzel4gore]

13. gee, a few piranha's could clean up that mess

haha....old alan would do some good in this world if a rare hotsea tiger shark somehow got into his bath! the tiger shark gets a meal, the usa gets free of another snakeoil salesman, and karma gets its keep!
lol
;)

[applegrove]

7. What is a "Business Cycle Dating Committee" and why am I not surprissed?

It is all about the roaring markets with this lot - no matter what happens and how much the fight of inflation is on the backs of everyone but the rich - the business cycle will continue.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/cea/bbernankebio.html

"Ben S. Bernanke was sworn-in on June 21, 2005 as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. Prior to his appointment to the Council, Dr. Bernanke served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Dr. Bernanke was born on December 13, 1953, in Augusta, Georgia. He received a B.A. in economics in 1975 from Harvard University (summa cum laude) and a Ph.D. in economics in 1979 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Before becoming a member of the Board, Dr. Bernanke was the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Economics and Public Affairs and Chair of the Economics Department at Princeton University (1996-2002). Dr. Bernanke had served as a Professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton since 1985.

Dr. Bernanke has published many articles on a wide variety of economic issues, including monetary policy and macroeconomics, and he is the author of several scholarly books and two textbooks. He has held a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Sloan Fellowship, and he is a Fellow of the Econometric Society and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Bernanke served as the Director of the Monetary Economics Program of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and as a member of the NBER's Business Cycle Dating Committee. Dr. Bernanke's work with civic and professional groups includes having served two terms as a member of the Montgomery Township "

[applegrove]

9. Oh - Puke! He will keep selling off all American Assets and trying to

get "little Americans" into the market so they can buy "old fashioned stokes" from the rich at the highest prices. National Parks will be sold - it will just continue undended.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050809-7.html

[applegrove]

11. National Review hates him too.

http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_comment/tamny200508110924.asp

[unblock]

8. this guy's seriously qualified. an ass, but a seriously qualified ass

his monetary ideas are hopelessly simplistc in the milton friedman vein.

but he is smart and well educated. just misguided, like the typical think tank / academic right winger.