Ben there, done that

Now that President Obama has announced the renewal of Ben Bernanke's Federal Reserve Chairmanship, I have to ask, WHY?

I don't approve of the Keynesian methods Bernanke uses to run the economy, which were a major factor in our current economic problems. But even IF you buy into his methods, there is one undeniable fact: Bernanke is a criminal.

Bernanke, along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, used their authority to blackmail Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis into buying Merrill Lynch. There is no law or government regulation that justifies government officials threatening to fire CEO's if they don't buy companies, yet we happily overlook the crime because Bernanke supposedly did a good job running the economy during this crisis. What crime did Bernanke have to commit before we would sit up and take notice? Since when did the Federal Reserve Chairman become immune to criminal prosecution?

Bernanke should be sitting in a jail cell instead of running the Federal Reserve. But under our current "Chicago way" government, misuse of your authority is perfectly acceptable.

In addition to the simple corruption, there is also the stupidity factor. With so many "too big to fail" companies receiving government bailouts, why would we want the country's largest bank to become even BIGGER? So not only is Bernanke corrupt, he is a moron. And we WANT him running the Federal Reserve?

Still don't believe me? Then feel free to explain why a labor leader is qualified to run New York's Federal Reserve? From the Wall Street Journal:

The Federal Reserve chose a labor leader to succeed a former Goldman Sachs executive as the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of New York's private-sector board of directors.

Denis Hughes, president of the New York state branch of the AFL-CIO, had been serving as acting chairman of the New York Fed board since May, when Stephen Friedman stepped down from the position.

If you look at the New York Federal Reserve's website, there is NOTHING in Denis Hughes's biography that makes him qualified to run a bank, let alone help make economic decisions for this country.

But a labor leader makes perfect sense for any powerful position under the "Chicago way" rules. Just as a thug like Ben Bernanke makes perfect sense for an Obama administration that is intent on expanding the power and reach of government. Even if they have to twist a few arms to do it.

The Obama Disconnect

According to CNN:

"...at the end of his first quarterly meeting with the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which was created in February to provide the administration with independent, nonpartisan advice on how to promote economic growth and stability.

...Obama told the board members he's seen "some return to normalcy" in parts of the financial markets."

I would love to hear which part of the financial markets is being referred to by our Dear Leader. According to the Federal Reserve (in a different article from CNN):

"The Federal Reserve's latest forecasts for the U.S. economy are gloomier than the ones released three months earlier, with an expectation for higher unemployment and a steeper drop in economic activity.

The Fed's forecasts, released as part of the minutes from its April meeting, show that its staff now expects the unemployment rate to rise to between 9.2% and 9.6% this year. The central bank had forecast in January that the jobless rate would be in a range of 8.5% to 8.8%, but the unemployment rate topped that in April, hitting 8.9%.

The Fed also now expects the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economic activity, to post a drop of between 1.3% and 2% this year. It had previously expected only a 0.5% to 1.3% decline."

Or how about this report (also from CNN):

"Welcome to the summer of the furlough. Manufacturing workers have long suffered from these "temporary layoffs," but the white-collar world is feeling them now, too: During this recession, everyone from universities to technology companies are using furloughs as a way to cut payroll without further trimming their staffs.

And while furloughs are already underway around the nation, human resources specialists say that required unpaid days off are only going to heat up as we head into the summer months, when employees are more amenable to time off -- albeit unpaid.

"Companies have done the huge surgery in terms of offering reductions in forced and involuntary ways," says Fred Crandall with consulting firm Watson Wyatt."

Of course, if Bush had said something as incredibly moronic as what Obama said, the Media would have lambasted Bush. But since it comes from the Obamessiah, not a peep is heard.