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Ben S. Bernanke is a noted American Economist with degrees in Economics from Harvard and MIT, past professorships at Stanford, NYU, MIT and Princeton, experience as a member of the Federal Reserve System's Board of Governors, and experience as past Chairman of the Presidential Council of Economic Advisors; furthermore, Bernanke is a "Depression Scholar" (Grunwald, 2009) whose "main academic focus was the central role of monetary policy and the Fed in creating the catastrophe" (Grunwald, 2009). Appointed Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board on February 1, 2006 during the Bush Administration, Bernanke was reappointed to a second term during the Obama Administration by 70-30 Senate vote on January 28, 2010 (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 2012). Bernanke's reappointment was reportedly "contentious" and he was reappointed by the smallest margin ever for Federal Chair confirmation (Binder, 2010). Given our slow economic recovery, questions have arisen about Bernanke's acts, omissions and possible lack of aggressiveness needed to stimulate economic recovery and lower unemployment rates.
Analysis
Ben Bernanke Does Not Pose a Threat to the U.S. Economy
Bernanke is good for the U.S. economy. First, he has the education, experience and special focus on the Depression to intimately understand...
Secondly, he takes bold moves when necessary and helped avert a full-blown Depression. When Time celebrated Bernanke as "the most powerful nerd on the planet" (Grunwald, 2009) and named him Person of the Year for 2009, it did so because Bernanke "didn't just reshape U.S. monetary policy; he led an effort to save the world economy" (Grunwald, 2009) and "His creative leadership helped ensure that 2009 was a period of weak recovery rather than catastrophic depression" (Grunwald, 2009). Finally, he also withstands criticism and apparently does not act for purely political or "popular" reasons. Bernanke has been severely criticized by Nobel Prize-winning economist and columnist for the New York Times, Paul Krugman, for failing to act aggressively enough to stimulate the country's economic growth while lowering our unemployment figures. Acknowledging the limited options available to Bernanke, Krugman believes Bernanke should raise our inflation target rate from 2% (Gustin, 2012). Krugman points to Bernanke's own professorial suggestion that Japan use exactly the same tactic in 2000. However, Bernanke counters with the fact that we are not dealing with deflation (falling prices) as Japan was in 2000 (Gustin, 2012). In addition, Gustin astutely compares the…
Works Cited
Binder, S.A. (2010, January 30). Ben Bernanke's second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Retrieved on June 3, 2012 from www.brookings.edu Web site: http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2010/01/30-bernanke-binder
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. (2012, May 30). FRB: Chairman Bernanke. Retrieved on June 3, 2012 from www.federalreserve.gov Web site: http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/bernanke.htm
Grunwald, M. (2009, December 16). Ben Bernanke - Person of the Year 2009 - TIME. Retrieved on June 3, 2012 from www.time.com Web site: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1946375_1947251,00.html
Gustin, S. (2012, April 30). Battle of the heavy-hitter economists: Krugman and Bernanke slug it out over fed policy. Retrieved on June 3, 2012 from business.time.com Web site: http://business.time.com/2012/04/30/battle-of-the-heavy-hitter-economists-krugman-and-bernanke-slug-it-out/
The U.S. economy is currently downshifting. Real GDP appears to be growing nearly 2% annualized -- at most -- in the current quarter. This rate is down from 3% during the first half of 2010 (before impending downward revisions), and 4% during the second half of 2009. Weakening support from the monetary and fiscal stimulus, the fading inventory rotation in manufacturing, and the consequences from Europe's debt crisis are an
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Although the general standard is broadly acknowledged, there is a difference about the quality and extent of the teaching. It could be said that some support a decidedly unitary official while others support a feebly unitary official. The previous aggregation contends that Congress' energy to meddle with intra-official choice making is constrained and that the President can control approach making by all official offices inside the cutoff points set for