Fed chief Bernanke finding it's not easy winning second term

[Goldstein1984]

WASHINGTON — Former Fed chief Alan Greenspan was a rock star.

Now his successor, Ben Bernanke, is just trying to keep his job.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint is doing his best to prevent Bernanke from gaining a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, the country's central bank.

"We can't overlook the fact that he has presided over one of the biggest economic catastrophes that we've had as a country," DeMint said at a Dec. 17 meeting of the Senate Banking Committee.

DeMint and at least two other senators, Kentucky Republican Jim Bunning and Vermont independent Bernie Sanders, have placed holds on Bernanke's nomination.

DeMint and Sanders vow to block a Senate vote on Bernanke until it considers their bill to require a comprehensive audit of the Federal Reserve by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.

More: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/81310.html

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Jim DeMint and Bernie Sanders on the same page--Now that's bipartisanship.

At first it was scary to find myself agreeing with DeMint. My thanks to Bernie Sanders for ending my cognitive dissonance.

[msongs]

1. uh oh the true believers are gonna get u for approving a leftie agreeing with a rightie lol nt

[Goldstein1984]

3. I'm still struggling with anything approaching agreement

with DeMint, myself.

But I decided to rely on that old saying: Even a broken clock tells the correct time twice a day.

In my opinion, there is no greater evidence that government is completely infiltrated, and most likely a captive, of Wall Street than the presence of people like Bernanke.

[laughingliberal]

2. Sanders is siding with the Teabaggers!!!!!!!

When will we see him under the bus?

BTW, I absolutely agree with blocking Bernanke. If I had not been opposed before I certainly was after he started that crap about entitlement reform with Congress.

[Goldstein1984]

4. Even if they can't successfully block Bernanke

I hope they make a big show of trying.

I'm still wondering why people are not more stirred up. Can there be enough videogames and reality television to pacify that many people?

[laughingliberal]

5. I agree 100%

If they can't stop him they need to get as many people as possible laser focused on him and what he is doing. I fully expect to see some sneaky moves to start the privatization of SS and Medicare. If he can't be stopped we need to make sure he doesn't get this process started with no one noticing.

[Goldstein1984]

6. The Neoliberal (Chicago School) Agenda:

Privatization
Cuts to social programs
Deregulation

[laughingliberal]

7. True. Looks a lot like the Republican agenda, huh?

Depressing. But, I'm supposed to STFU and get on board cause the president is a Democrat. We are so screwed.

[Goldstein1984]

8. All we can do, as bvar22 pointed out in a post, is

keep the message alive, and be ready to act when the opportunity presents itself.

I believe that things are going to get worse.

If the economy truly does become worse, more people may be listening.

All a lot of people have to do is stop spending. In an economy based 70% of consumption, TPTB will notice.

[laughingliberal]

9. I believe that. I have little to spend and am pretty much barely surviving

I have to check every penny we spend cause it could mean the difference between having enough gas to go to our shop tomorrow or not. It's a tough way to live but the one bright spot in it for me is I am not out there killing myself to increase the coffers of some damned for-profit health care institution and I am not spending anything beyond a minimum which might put any money in some asshole corporation's pockets. I think starving the beast may be the only way. I hope enough people are getting it.

I often wonder about Japan. There has been a lot of talk about how they had a lost decade even with several stimulus bills. They never really came back and, even now, the people who went through it are still not spending again which has kept their growth a lot lower than business would like. I wonder if our PTB saw signs Americans were heading that way if it would change their behavior?

[Goldstein1984]

10. I make a decent salary, but

my wife and I are recovering from having to relocate back to Alaska only ten months after moving to Nebraska. The company I worked for was badly managed, deeply in debt, and filed for bankruptcy a week after I took a position back in Alaska. The joke is, it no longer exists, but I do.

That said, every spare penny I make goes to help family members hurt worse by the meltdown than we were.

I work in corporate office, surrounded by Conservatives, doing the only thing someone with my education and temperament can do in industry without feeling like a prostitute--environmental health and safety. I see people treated like throw-away parts every day. Our clients are unethical at best, finding every way to work around the rules. Their employees are as bad as they are, or their careers are stagnant and they live in fear of saying the wrong thing.

I spend most of my time at work not saying what I'm thinking, but the bright ones can tell what I think by what I'm not saying.

We're putting as little into the system as possible.

[MrsCorleone]

11. Hi laughinglib. Have family in Japan & quality of life for the average

citizen during the so-called "lost decade" was not too shabby. Those caught up in the insane Japanese property boom of the 80s lost a lot of wealth, but the quality of life of the masses was largely protected by their government. The free market crowd adopted that "lost decade" talking point & they often use the Nikkei's poor performance as proof that life sucked for the Japanese. But, as we all know, the stock market is a speculator's playground that largely fails to accurately reflect the realities on the ground.

:hi:

[laughingliberal]

12. Thanks for that

So, I'm wondering. Does that mean average citizens did ok and the fat cats were mad cause the people wouldn't play anymore? Just trying to get at the question of whether starving this beast here will have any impact. What are your thoughts on this?

[MrsCorleone]

13. If I recall correctly, there was a concerted effort to soften the blow from the

property collapse over there & so there was a lot of money thrown into the coffers of those who largely didn't deserve the help. But, a severe economic dislocation too quickly would have been so difficult to recover from (& far more expensive for the gov). This is not unlike what we're seeing here in the U.S., wih some noteable differences. For instance, the Japanese largely avoided credit, unlike most in the U.S. This complicates our recovery.

That being said, I'm am all for starving the beast. To me, the beast are those industries that rely on the tax payers $s yet offer little or nothing and even undermine the welfare of the people. Unfortunately, cutting them them off in one fell swoop would create a dislocation that our economy just could not absorb given current econ climate. This is IMHO. So, I'm for a systematic, well planned, and well timed weaning of these leeches. Out with the outdated industries (oil, coal, health insurers, etc) and in with the new (high speed rail, alt energy, single payer, etc). It'll take time, and some industries are too entrenched & powerful to completely oust any time soon, but moving onto new industries is necessary for our economy to ever recover. At least that's how I see it.

[laughingliberal]

14. Very well reasoned response. Thank you for that

I think it was probably not a bad move for us to move to stabilize the financial markets here when the collapse occurred but not enough done to keep them from doing it, again. Hopefully, some pressure from the public will get some regulation in place.

[MrsCorleone]

15. Yes, reinstating regulations is key.

Voters on the left & right seem to be largely in agreement on this, so the push back will come from the banking industry itself & those taking their $s, not the usual Fox/teabagger/Limbuagh crowd. Should be interesting to watch the twisted logic fly.

I'm expecting the worst but hoping for the best.

[laughingliberal]

16. We shall all cross our fingers and hope

I still think, however unrealistically, that there are, at times, public outcries so loud that even the bought off legislators have to give a nod to the people. We will hope this is one of those times.