Why doesn't anyone else besides Bunning and a few others see the problems that bubble ben bernanke is creating at this very second, I have no clue why anyone should be ignoring what he is doing today. He was the only one to vote against Bernanke, he was the only one to raise serious concerns about him.... And he was right, bubble ben bernanke thinks easy money is the way out of this credit crisis, he will be proven very wrong..... Sen Bunning is right on!!!! Listen to the entire bashing of bernanke by sen Bunning. <object id="cnbcplayer" height="380" width="400" classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" > <param name="type" value="application/x-shockwave-flash"/> <param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"/> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"/> <param name="quality" value="best"/> <param name="scale" value="noscale" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent"/> <param name="bgcolor" value="#000000"/> <param name="salign" value="lt"/> <param name="movie" value="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1349267835/code/cnbcplayershare"/> <embed name="cnbcplayer" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#000000" height="380" width="400" quality="best" wmode="transparent" scale="noscale" salign="lt" src="http://plus.cnbc.com/rssvideosearch/action/player/id/1349267835/code/cnbcplayershare" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" /> </object>
The only reason he thinks things operate the way they do is because he is uneducated, though not afraid to open is mouth and show it.
I also happen to think that Sen Bunning is either a) clueless, or b) trying to score some cheap political points, or both.
Sounds like you're a perma bull who rejects the notion of price stability if it means the bottom line of ASSet holders will be jeopardized. Is Karl short for Karl Marx? One only need look at the failure of the Japanese model-and I notice you ridiculed someone who posted a Nikkei chart showing that market's utter collapse-to note the impotence of stimulative deficit spending and zero interest rates, in staving the divine market forces that readjust downward those formally bubblesque asset prices. The Federal Reserve under Greenspan and Bernanke has sacrificed the essential purchasing power of dollar denominated wages in favor of Dow 10,000 and East Side co-op's at a $1,500,000. Excess liquidity is literally like putting out a bubble on fire with gasoline. Telling American business and consumers that they can borrow more and cheaper is like giving an addict more product because he's easier to handle when high than when recovering. If Bernanke had any stones he'd say "Citi needs to fail, the FDIC better get Congressional funds to man-up to depositors, the Dow should be at 4-5k and Thirty Year yields should be north of 6%." One of the MAJOR catalysts the past decade of this bullshit is the BOGUS Fed Funds target and the facilitation of carry trades on the Long end of the curve. What was better? Dow 3,000 with Bond holders making 60k per million or 14,000 with Bond holders making 35k per million? The lack of yield afforded to savers has been causitive of the slowdown for two decades. Since the crash of 1987, the Fed has repeadedly said Fuck You to savers and SUCKED THE DICK of troubled asset longs. No wonder Main Street is finally rebelling....
Freemarkets, awesome post! Karl: Richard Koo's book is a real eyeopener for those who think the US is doing a better job than Japan had done....
I agree, S2007S and "Sen Bunning is right on!!!!" I'd like to see Bunning in the Manchild's position myself. However, replacing Mr. Bubblehead brings me back to the same type of dilemma I was in back in Nov. 08. I thought the Repubs could do a hell of a lot better than Palin/McCain but they were clearly a better choice than the Bidden/Manchild Team. Since neither of us will be voting on Bubblehead's replacement Nomination, who do you suppose the Manchild Gone Wild with our Credit Cards would appoint? Maybe a FED CZAR like Larry Summers? How about Scarry Reid? Barnaby Fife (I mean Frank) could be a choice, he could fix everything retroactively. In all seriousness though, who do you imagine the Manchild might nominate that you think you would be happier with? And Yes! Very well said FREEMARKETS
Junior Mugabe will replace the Academic with someone from ACORN. Or Van Jones. Or the known terrorist Bill Ayers. In reality, the Academic will stay because the banks know they can tell him any old bullshit and he'll believe it. The banks run the country plain and simple. JP Morgan and the boys didn't like to bail things out with their own money back in the day so the Creature was born. Today was all theater; so who gives a shit what Bunning or any of these pinheads said.
Partial transcript ... Alan Greenspan refused to look for bubbles or to do anything other than create them. Likewise it is clear from your statements over the last four years that you failed to spot the housing bubble despite many warnings. Under your watch every one of the major banks failed or would have failed had you not bailed them out. After taking over the Fed you did not seen any need for more substantial regulation of derivatives until it was clear that they were headed into the financial meltdown thanks in part to those products. The Greenspan policy on transparency was to talk a lot, use plenty of numbers, but say nothing. You promised congress more transparency when you came to the job. You promised more transparency when you came begging for TARP. To be fair you have published more information than before but those efforts are inadequate and you still refuse to provide details on the Fed's bailout last year on all the toxic waste you have bought. Chairman Greenspan sold the Fed's independence to Wall Street on the so called "Greenspan PUT". Whenever Wall Street needed a boost, Alan was there. But you went even farther than that when you bowed to the political pressure of the Bush and Obama Administrations, and turned the Fed into an arm of the Treasury. Under your watch the "Bernanke PUT" became a bailout for all large financial institutions, including many foreign banks. And you put the printing presses into overdrive to fund the government's spending and hand out cheap money to your masters on Wall Street. In short, you are the definition of a moral hazard. You are repeating the same mistakes as Japan in the 1990's on a much larger scale while sowing the seeds for the next bubble. The AIG bailout alone is reason enough to send you back to Princeton. I will do everything I can to stop your nomination and drag out this process as long as I can. We must put an end to your and the Fed's failure and there is no better time than now. Your Fed has become the creature from Jeckyll Island.