Bernanke Reappointed Fed Chairman...Market Tanks Again

[Tarheel]

I see that the wise men of the Senate voted in favor of reappointing America's other Dictator in Chief, Ben Bernanke today as head of the Fed.  Judging by the reaction of the market I'd say he's a sell rather than a hold.  He's about as incompetent as The ONE himself.

Here's a few excerpts from a fairly good short article about why it's time for Bernanke to go, all emphasis is my own:

It's time for Bernanke to move on
Commentary: Why the Fed chief has passed his sell-by date
{Jan. 28, 2010, 12:01 a.m. EST}
By Simon Constable

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Just because the U.S. Senate will almost certainly confirm Ben Bernanke for another term as Federal Reserve chairman doesn't mean it should.

Here are two reasons why it shouldn't: one for those for those who think he's doing a bad job, and the other for those who think he's a crisis manager par excellence.

First we have his lack of candor:

When Bernanke says low interest rates weren't the cause of the housing bubble, he is at best being disingenuous. Instead, he points to lax lending standards as the key fuel for inflating home prices.

But the truth is rather different.

His assertion is similar to claiming that it isn't the fall from a skyscraper that breaks your bones, but the sharp stop when your body reaches the street.

Low interest rates and lax lending standards are also closely related. They are just two symptoms of loose money. Lax lending standards were the response to healthy banks being awash with cash and most creditworthy borrowers already fat with debt.

So to put more money to work, bankers lent to increasingly dodgy borrowers. Indeed, that is what you would expect during a period of loose monetary policy.

For those who lauded Bernanke's performance during the financial tornado, how about remembering the way we set up this Republic -- don't leave any one person with too much power.


The implication was that no one else could possibly fill his by-now enormous shoes.  Or more simply, Bernanke has supreme power to make or break the markets. That alone should have those who believe in checks and balances up in arms.
...

Full story:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/story/print?guid=F1B8ADE9-C454-4B36-B6B9-B581673E1971

[GarMan]

I see that the wise men of the Senate voted in favor of reappointing America's other Dictator in Chief, Ben Bernanke today as head of the Fed.  Judging by the reaction of the market I'd say he's a sell rather than a hold.  He's about as incompetent as The ONE himself.

Yeah...  That's probably true, but I'm guessing that most of the recent market fluctuations are reactions to O'bama's comments and speeches.  It seems that every time that guy opens his mouth, the world markets tank by a few percentage points.  He's no friend of economics, and free-market capitalism be damned under his rule.