Does Bernanke Make the Grade?
Ben Bernanke appeared at the International Monetary Conference in Atlanta this week, acknowledging that the pace of economic recovery is frustratingly slow.
Even while he was talking, the stock market swooned. JPMorgan Chase ceo Jamie Dimon wondered if the Fed was actually hurting the economy, and he asked Bernanke if he had studied the cumulative effect of all the Fed's new banking regulations. Bernanke had to admit, no, he hadn't done that. Suddenly, people were criticizing the chairman for not doing his homework, and his credibility took a hit.
Bernanke not doing his homework? That seems unlikely. Let's see how he makes the grade.
When young Ben Bernanke found out his high school in Dillon, SC, did not offer calculus, he learned it on his own. I don't know if you've ever taken calculus, but I have, and it's hard enough with a teacher, let alone without one. He was class valedictorian, went to Harvard and earned a Ph.D from MIT. Grade on his educational background: A+
Bernanke taught at Stanford, NYU and Princeton, where he became chairman of the economics department. He went to Washington in 2002. President Bush appointed him Chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2006. The housing bubble peaked in 2006. So don't blame the housing bubble on Ben Bernanke. The bubble was created under Alan Greenspan's watch. Grade on Bernanke's career: A+
President Obama nominated him for a second term as Fed chief, crediting him with preventing another Great Depression in 2008, saying he "approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom, with bold action and out-of-the-box thinking." Bernanke was then named Time's Man of the Year. Bernanke's actions have come under criticism only now, three years later, when memories of the financial crisis have faded. Nevertheless, those bankers are still sucking wind out of the American economy. Bailout grade: B
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