Posted on 08/26/2011 9:23:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As I write this, investors around the world are anxiously awaiting Ben Bernanke’s speech at the annual Fed gathering at Jackson Hole, Wyo. They want to know whether Mr. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, will unveil new policies that might lift the U.S. economy out of what is looking more and more like a quasi-permanent state of depressed demand and high unemployment.
But I’ll be shocked if Mr. Bernanke proposes anything significant — that is, anything likely to make any serious dent in unemployment or offer any serious boost to growth.
Why don’t I expect much from Mr. Bernanke? In two words: Rick Perry.
O.K., I don’t mean that Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, is personally standing in the way of effective monetary policy. Not yet, anyway. Instead, I’m using Mr. Perry — who has famously threatened Mr. Bernanke with dire personal consequences if he pursues expansionary monetary policy before the 2012 election — as a symbol of the political intimidation that is killing our last remaining hope for economic recovery.
To see what I’m talking about, let’s ask what policies the Fed actually should be pursuing right now.
Obviously, the U.S. economy remains deeply depressed, and under normal conditions we would expect the Fed to pump it up by cutting interest rates. But the interest rates the Fed normally targets — basically rates on short-term U.S. government debt — are already near zero. So what can the Fed do?
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
what?
So, now we have blame Bush for the past and present and Perry for the future?
Really?
If that’s true, that’s one point for Perry. PALIN/RUBIO ‘12!! Bob
This is total BS.
okay, if anything that Mr. Perry has said to Mr. Bernanke has given Mr. Bernanke pause in pursuing the destruction of our economy by printing off more fiat money, I am all for it.
I guess the New Your Times reporter does not understand that for each dollar printed out of thin air, each previously existing dollar is devalued.
Like all liberals, Krugman is a hysterical, prissy, mincing, baby. As if the Governor of Texas in the year 2011 can physically (or through threat of legal action) intimidate the Chairman of the Fed is ridiculous on its face. I loathe liberals who grasp onto straws to excuse the failure of their policies by playing the victim card. There, I’ve said it.
Paul Crudman again...
For once I agree with the Krugster (and am darned happy that Perry did it)
Obama would and will reapoint Uncle Ben again, Perry probably wound't/won't, he should want Obama to win, and would use all policy tools available to try and help Obama, with no regards to long term consequences.
Perry had no impact on Bernake, he's simply realizing that he's out of bullets, and that anything he does, will merely hurt Obama, he's powerless at this point, and he knows it.
So, now the spin will be that the Economy is “Perry’s Fault”.
Well Kudos to Gov. Perry.
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