Ben Bernanke will reportedly be reappointed to another term as Federal Reserve Board Chairman. There was some speculation out there that the Obama administration might switch horses (nominating someone like Larry Summers). But no longer. More from the New York Times:
“President Obama on Tuesday will nominate Ben S. Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, administration officials said.
“The announcement is a major victory for Mr. Bernanke, a Republican who was appointed by President George W. Bush almost four years ago and who had briefly served as chairman of Mr. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers.
“A top White House official said Mr. Obama had decided to keep Mr. Bernanke at the helm of the Fed because he had been bold and brilliant in his attempts to combat the financial crisis and the deep recession.
“The president thinks that Ben’s done a great job as Fed chairman, that he has helped the economy through one of the worst experiences since the Great Depression and that he has essentially been pulling the economy back from the brink of what would have been the second Great Depression,” the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said Monday night.”
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When are interest rates going up under Beranke?
Mike Larson Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 10:49 AM
I think Bernanke doesn’t WANT to raise interest rates for a long time. Forever, maybe. He comes from the same easy money school as Greenspan, unfortunately. I would suspect his hand will be forced at some point, however, by a slumping dollar, rising commodities, falling bond prices or some combination thereof.
No more Bernanke.
Let it contract.