Comments on: Jim Bunning Does Not ♥ Ben Bernanke

By: tshaddy45

tshaddy45 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:29:04 +0000

The main job of the FED. should be to prevent bubbles. Looking back on history. Look to William McChesney Martin Jr. FRB Chair 4-2-51 to 1-31-70 Contrary to Truman’s expectations, however, Martin guarded the Fed’s independence, not just through Truman’s administration but also through the four administrations that would follow. To the present day, his term as Chairman is the longest term the Board of Governors has seen. Over nearly two decades, Martin would achieve global recognition as a central banker. He was able to pursue independent monetary policies while still paying heed to the desires of various administrations. Although the objectives of Martin’s monetary policy were low inflation and economic stability, he rejected the idea that the Fed could pursue its policies through the targeting of a single indicator and instead made policy decisions by examining a wide array of economic information. As Chairman, he institutionalized this approach within the proceedings of the FOMC, gathering the opinions of all governors and presidents within the System before making decisions. As a result, his decisions were often supported by unanimous votes on the FOMC. His most famous quote about his central banking philosophy was that the job of the Federal Reserve is “to take away the punch bowl just as the party gets going,”[1] referring to the need to raise interest rates when the economy is at its most active.
EXAMINING A WIDE ARRAY OF ECONOMIC INFORMATION BY GATHERING THE OPINIONS OF ALL GOVERNORS AND PRESIDENTS WITHIN THE SYSTEM BEFORE MAKING DECISIONS!
The FED needs to continue to be independent of politics he knew that. Unfortuniatly the current mentra is to go with the big money in policy.
THIS WILL ULTIMATELY LEAD TO FAILURE AND MUCH MORE PAIN BEFORE THE ULTIMATE CRASH. WE HAVE NOT SEEN THE WORST YET!

By: Not In Kansas Anymore » Sen. Bunning Putting the Hate on Bernanke

Not In Kansas Anymore » Sen. Bunning Putting the Hate on Bernanke — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:20:44 +0000

[...] a quote of comments by Sen. Bunning in the recent re-confirmation hearings for Ben Bernanke (”Jim Bunning Does Not ♥ Ben Bernanke“). Sen. Bunning (who was the only one to vote against Bernanke’s appointment four years [...]

By: Transor Z

Transor Z — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:26:38 +0000

FrancoisT, the writer you quoted is correct from a constitutional standpoint but that doesn’t make A Frank wrong. Congress has been abdicating its authority to the Executive for a long time now. They turned the Fed into an untouchable black box. So you’re right in theory but not in reality.

By: FT.com | Money Supply | Economic news headlines

FT.com | Money Supply | Economic news headlines — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:40:56 +0000

[...] Bunning to Ben: “you are the definition of moral hazard” – Big Picture [...]

By: torrie-amos

torrie-amos — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:29:02 +0000

maybe we will get partisinship after all, when everything goes to hell in a hand basket

By: ToNYC

ToNYC — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 09:29:51 +0000

Ben thinks that if he goes all in with our credit he can’t lose. What he didn’t fathom is that when you lose the trust of the players by being an unfair umpire for the Banks, you can’t play with an empty table. The best this guy can do is resign. I watched the full 14:24 available at market-ticker. His body language said it all, back to Princeton to write had to be one of his notes. The fork came out clean; the man is done.

By: FrancoisT

FrancoisT — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:26:21 +0000

“I guess somebody missed the class where we talked about the independence of the Fed.”

Sigh! So sick of reading that urban myth!

Fed’s independence is toward the Executive, NOT the Legislative branch of our go-vermin.

Two weeks ago the House Banking Committee voted to authorize periodic audits of the Federal Reserve System by the Government Accountability Office, and outrage spread through the media about the Congress usurping the authority of the Fed.

The fact of the matter is that oversight of the Federal Reserve is part of the job description of the Congress. The Constitution of the United States empowers the Congress “to coin money [and] regulate the value thereof.” When he was chairman of the House Bankng Committee in the 1950s, Wright Patman liked to say that the Constitution gave the Congress full power over money, “but we have farmed it out to the Federal Open Market Committee” in the Federal Reserve System.

The much touted “independence” of the Fed is an independence from the executive, not the legislative branch.

The Fed can write its own budget without dictation from anyone for the practical reason that printing money is profitable and the central bank always shows a surplus. But under our system of government, the Congress can no more give the Fed full policy independence than the President can resign as commander-in-chief of the Army and Navy. The legally mandated twice-yearly “Humphrey/Hawkins” reports that the chairman of the Fed makes to the Congress are an expression of ultimate Congressional responsibility for monetary policy.

By: jpmist

jpmist — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 05:01:29 +0000

AD Frank, apparently you missed my point.

By: Adult Franklin411

Adult Franklin411 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:04:57 +0000

I doubt that there is anything the Fed did or didn’t do that Congress didn’t have legislative control over.

I guess somebody missed the class where we talked about the independence of the Fed.

By: jpmist

jpmist — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:59:40 +0000

No one else seems to be bothered by the absurdity of anyone from Congress crapping on the Fed about anything. The Fed isn’t a branch of the federal government, Congress is. I doubt that there is anything the Fed did or didn’t do that Congress didn’t have legislative control over. Bunning blames the Fed for allowing the banks to become too big to fail? Really? I didn’t know the Fed could pass legislation.

Was it the Fed who starved the SEC for funds and staffing? Was it the Fed who created Fannie and Freddie? Was it the Fed who allowed high rollers 30:1 leverage? Was the Fed the only institution who ignored rampant mortgage lending fraud? Who takes more money from lobbyist, the Fed or Congress?

Bunning points the finger at Greenspan for “easy money” when it is Congress that ran up record setting earmarks, passed a Sr. Rx bill just to keep the Bush in office a second term and hasn’t balanced an annual budget since Clinton. Since Congress just keeps spending us into a multigenerational deficit hole, what choice does the Fed have but to print money, inflate and devalue the dollar?

The balls on this guy. . .