He is nucking futs. He is effectively stoking inflation and collapsing the dollar to appease short term negative sentiment in the financial markets. I give him an F. The Fed's actions have been consistently one step behind during this whole credit crises. I agree that Bernanke inherited a tough situation, but I think he is only making it worse. If you want to see a smart man go over to Europe and look at ECB's Trichet.
lol are you serious? The ECB? They can't even build enough consesus to make a decision. They're furious about the dollar weakness and how it's destroying their exports from Europe. Also - the data on inflation does not show that it's a problem. I thought Bernanke acted too slow initially in cutting rates. Overall, I give him a B
He is enacting the only policy that is a viable option at this point. As soon as the Fed takes its foot off the gas the US economy will fall into a deflationary spiral. Once that happens, nothing will stop it due to the Himalayan mountains of debt that US consumers and the Federal govt have built up. Of course it's entirely plausable that nothing will stop it anyways, but at least Helicopter Ben is doing all he can.
His timing and implementation are poor. His emergency actions stoke fears in the markets creating a greater problem.
almost everytime he has had an emergency action the market has rallied. i think there was one time when he cut the discount window rate and we rallied and still ended up negative on the day. maybe i am remembering wrong but to say his emergency actions have caused fear is just flat out incorrect. it has been when he waited to act that caused fear.
I can't tell whether Bernanke's the idiot or whether he's just too weak to make the owners of the Fed take their medicine for the mess they've made, but what the Fed is doing will make everything worse.
He's doubling down with taxpayer money. Danger is Bernanke's middle name... Minus the hot casino groupies.
I hope he isn't another Arthur Burns, Nixon's Fed Chairman (1970-78), who set off an inflation spiral by using policies very similar to what Bernanke is pursuing.
Are you stupid? Inflation not a problem? When's the last time you went to a grocery store? I expect the CPI to rise quite a bit this quarter, hell all of this year. Bernanke is only exacerbating the situation - it's clear that at this point, continuing to prop up the bubble built up by irresponsible mortgage issues and the fact that pretty much all bond funds are affected to some degree by the credit crunch will lead to only a deeper plunge to the bottom. Also, the bailout of Bear Stearns is pretty much unforgiveable. I give him an F.
On the inflation - it's interesting, because this inflation cycle has really hit the poor more than anything else. The overall basket of goods isn't going up that much, but basic necessities have. Milk is up something like 25-30% over 1 year. Gas is up at least that much. Basic produce like corn is going up substantially, etc. It's apparently being balanced out by continued drops in costs of gadgets and the like, but for the poor, I think inflation has hit pretty hard. In terms of Bernanke - I think he's doing what's necessary. It's easy to say that he should let the market fix itself, but the reality is that would be a total disaster. He's dealing with the immediate problem in front of him, and hopefully when the economy stabilizes, he will address the more long-term issues. This is no different than how we all live our own lives. If you're starving, you find food before addressing issues of long-term savings, etc. If he didn't do anything, you'd have a complete economic meltdown, and the consequences would be far worse than the original mistakes - and would affect many people not involved in making those mistakes.
The Fed's done so much is because there's nothing in place to regulate the new financial systems for the past 15 years. We'll see a wave of regulation if this ever gets settled.
Stupid people use anecdotal evidence and their ignorant guesses about what might happen in the future as a means to measure inflation. You just did that. The data does not show inflation to be a problem. Sorry brah - quit listening to the liberals moan and groan about nonexistent problems and try to use your brain. Think, people, think.
Except that it does. Not overall inflation - but inflation that affects various parts of social. Milk, grain, gasoline, wheat, corn, etc. Here's the latest example from today: http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/19/smbusiness/Chernoff_pizza/index.htm?postversion=2008031912 NEW YORK (CNN) -- Pizzeria owner Joe Vicari shakes his head as he prepares to rip open a 50-pound bag of flour for another batch of dough. "That's 37-bucks. $37. I couldn't believe it!" says Vicari. Since opening Mariella Pizza in mid-town Manhattan 30-years ago, Vicari, says he has never experienced such a jump in the cost of his ingredients. "I can't even believe how much the flour [goes] up. When I see the bill I can't believe it, that's too much," says the veteran pizza maker, who emigrated from Sicily. Only four weeks ago, Vicari says, he was paying just $16-a-bag for Gold Medal brand flour, which at $37-a-bag now seems more golden than ever. Executives at his supplier, Cremosa Food of Melville, New York, did not return CNN's repeated phone calls, though a source at the company confirms there are plans for a price hike to $40-a-bag in the next week. Cremosa, the source said, is allocating flour to restaurants, refusing to allow customers to buy more than they had purchased the prior week. ...
Look like the markets will tank again tomorrow. We will probably lose all the gains from the last pump. Ben is a smart guy, but I don't think he can stop what is coming.
When will you morons quit trying to disprove overall measures of inflation with smaller components of that same broader measure? Can you not see the flaw in that logic? You even admit that overall inflation isn't a problem. Think, people, think
