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Robert Shrum: Can Ben Bernanke, Like John Roberts, Ignore Political Pressure and Do His Job?
Can Ben Bernanke, Like John Roberts, Ignore Political Pressure and Do His Job?
Jul 17, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
In congressional testimony this week, the Republican Fed chairman could hold out the possibility of monetary easing that might spur a pickup before November, or Fed intervention to push job creation—even though either would be bad for Romney, who has built his campaign around economic misfortune.
The Bush financial collapse of 2008 sealed the election of Barack Obama. Despite the apparent doldrums of recent months and predictions of doom or increasing danger for the now-incumbent president, an unexpected pickup in the recovery may yet leave Mitt Romney high and dry as a rising tide lifts growth and job creation in the final months carries Obama to a second term.
You won’t know that after listening to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to a Senate committee on Tuesday and its House counterpart on Wednesday—that is, unless you were listening very closely.
First, Bernanke will sound his usual if urgent warnings. Congress needs to use the fiscal tools—short- and medium-term actions to sustain growth—that currently are in the death grip of a Republican Party intent on victory through policy paralysis and economic stagnation. Bernanke can’t ever say it that bluntly; he would be denounced as political if he plainly called out the GOP’s politicization of economics. But that will be the inescapable implication of his critique.
more...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/17/can-ben-bernanke-like-john-roberts-ignore-political-pressure-and-do-his-job.html
Jul 17, 2012 4:45 AM EDT
In congressional testimony this week, the Republican Fed chairman could hold out the possibility of monetary easing that might spur a pickup before November, or Fed intervention to push job creation—even though either would be bad for Romney, who has built his campaign around economic misfortune.
The Bush financial collapse of 2008 sealed the election of Barack Obama. Despite the apparent doldrums of recent months and predictions of doom or increasing danger for the now-incumbent president, an unexpected pickup in the recovery may yet leave Mitt Romney high and dry as a rising tide lifts growth and job creation in the final months carries Obama to a second term.
You won’t know that after listening to Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony to a Senate committee on Tuesday and its House counterpart on Wednesday—that is, unless you were listening very closely.
First, Bernanke will sound his usual if urgent warnings. Congress needs to use the fiscal tools—short- and medium-term actions to sustain growth—that currently are in the death grip of a Republican Party intent on victory through policy paralysis and economic stagnation. Bernanke can’t ever say it that bluntly; he would be denounced as political if he plainly called out the GOP’s politicization of economics. But that will be the inescapable implication of his critique.
more...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/17/can-ben-bernanke-like-john-roberts-ignore-political-pressure-and-do-his-job.html
