You've got to hand it to him, before he messed around (and before 2007) he got that on the map in America's alternative political universe. The cover for the holds was made in great part by Paul.

--
Hongpong.com

Ron Paul is a looney toon, but Bernanke should be sent out. Sanders - from the linked article - seems like a much more pertinent critic:

Sanders said that Bernanke's record doesn't warrant a new term. The Federal Reserve has four main responsibilities: to maximum employment and prevent inflation; to keep the financial system from imploding; to maintain the safety and soundness of financial institutions; and to protect consumers against deceptive and unfair financial products.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy... :-P

I won't hold my breath, though, for his dismissal---once his buddies in Big Money start lobbying for him, votes will change his way, I'm sure.

-5.75,-4.05
"God gives men a brain and a penis, and only enough blood to run one at a time." -- Robin Williams

The White House can quietly orchestrate no votes and enough uncertainty that Bernanke gets the hint and withdraws from consideration. Obama doesn't have to get his hands dirty dumping him in the open at this late stage.

Numerian for chairman of the Federal Reserve!

--
Hongpong.com

That what this is about for me.

The argument that the guy did the best he could to control the damage of a train wreck he helped cause doesn't sit well with me.

This smacks of the Joker blowing up an apartment building then helping a little old lady walk through the wreckage.

This and the recent campaign finance ruling by the Supreme Court means that we will have to fight brutally, throwing politicians, CEOs, and big bankers to the dogs if we are to hang onto any scraps left of independent thinking in our government.

We voters just have to brutally trash those guys. This is no time for "aww...he couldn't see it coming" and "he did the best he could" excuses. This is time to purge and clean.

And I see no good reason why the Democrats and Obama himself shouldn't be thrown out with the rest of them of they can't decide where their loyalities lay (or worse, if they have sided with corporations against American citizens, as apparently they have).

Color me mad as hell, and wouldn't mind voting along with 50 million others like me.

A sorry excuse is grounds for a left hook to the jaw, as far as I'm concerned. At least then maybe they would quit lying for a few glorious moments.

KUDOS to the first person who stands up at the next speech where they say "nobody saw it coming," and yells STFU. That's what they need to hear right now.

The media says this is because banks are worried Obama is going to crack down on them. But it could be just the end of the irrational 2009 stock market "boom".

Besides the failures cited above to fulfill the Fed's mission, he has also:

1) Continued to ignore asset bubbles, including the recent one in commodities.
2) Maintained a zero interest rate policy that represents a transfer of wealth from savers to a handful of failed large banks, that have refused to use their profits to lend to businesses or consumers. This policy has also deprived savers, especially the elderly and retired, of any decent interest income, forcing them to seek out risky assets like equities or commodities, thus fueling the bubble in these sectors.
3) Spoken repeatedly of the need to revive the economy through reflation and a restoration of the credit markets to their pre-2008 level, when the housing bubble was at it peak. Most of his rescue initiatives have been consistent with this policy goal.
4) Never once talked about the importance of deleveraging in all sectors of the economy, through either debt paydowns or defaults, as a necessity before the economy can revive. This would have forced Congress and the administration to deal seriously with the individual suffering caused by this deleveraging process.
5) Succored major banks with bailouts and ongoing preferential treatment, when these banks are very likely insolvent, judging by how the stock market treats them. This is a repeat of the Japanese experience with "zombie banks", which led to 10 years of economic stagnation.
6) Usurped the Congressional power to borrow and spend by ballooning the Fed balance sheet without reference or approval from Congress.
7) Persistently allowed new banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to continue to act like investment banks or hedge funds.
8) Maintained a shroud of secrecy over Fed decisions and actions in the credit crisis, even to the point of filing delaying and obstreperous suits to prevent enforcement of court "sunshine" orders.
8) Insisted that the Fed's low interest rates during the 2001-2002 recession had nothing to do with the ensuing housing bubble, an argument that is considered risible by almost all economists.
9) Received the strong endorsement of Alan Greenspan.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/dec/08/ben-bernanke-bernie-sanders