Should Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke Be Reconfirmed?

There is a lot of talk in the news lately about whether Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke should be reconfirmed or not. There seems to be a growing opposition in the Senate to his continued rain as chairman. President Obama does still support him and voice his confidence in Bernanke and his ability to set the economy back in order. I, and many others, don’t share his confidence.

If you were sick and the doctor you had been seeing had led to your illness through practicing bad medicine would you continue seeing that doctor? Not likely! You would choose another doctor who would use another treatment instead of continuing to use the same one that allowed you to become sick. It makes about as much sense to reconfirm Ben Bernanke, who followed policies that led to the economic decline and really hasn’t done very much to get back on track to stability and job producing growth, in the position of Chairman of the Fed.

The banks are doing great now thanks to massive bailouts using taxpayer’s money. But without the working people who pay the taxes those bailouts came from they aren’t likely to be able to sustain their prosperity indefinitely. Home owners will continue to lose their homes to foreclosure because they lost their jobs. Unemployment will remain high and the revenue from taxes on working people will remain low under Chairman Ben Bernanke’s leadership.

Ben Bernanke still exhibits no willingness to adopt policy that would bring about job growth. So someone else who has a better approach to economic regulation should replace him as Chairman of the Fed. But the banking lobby is very strong and Obama and several Senators undoubtedly under their influence and will give their allegiance to the bankers. They will continue to give them what they want instead of replacing Ben Bernanke with someone else who would institute new job producing economic policy.