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Fed Chief Bernanke — Backseat Legislator?
People listen to the Fed Chief. When Ben Bernanke opens his mouth, good or bad things can happen. I have to think potential results of his latest babbling will be the latter…
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke warned policymakers to make sure individual workers are not allowed to suffer too much from the effects of free-trade, globalization, technological progress and other developments that have boosted economic progress for the nation as a whole.
The dynamism of the U.S. economy “creates painful dislocations,” such as factory closings and layoffs of workers with obsolete skills, the Fed chief said in remarks prepared for delivery at a meeting in Omaha, Neb. “If we did not place some limits on the downside risks to individuals affected by economic change, the public at large might become less willing to accept the dynamism that is so essential to economic progress.”
Bernanke did not offer specific policy remedies for such problems. But he said generally that improving education and training should help reduce income inequality and expand economic opportunity, while efforts to restrict trade would hurt economic growth.
Does talk like this scare anyone else? Bernanke seems to have enough faith in government that he believes our legislators can figure out how to smooth economic transition effectively. He doesn’t realize that the government does very little effectively. This man has basically been given the power to manage wide swaths of our money system. If he believes our legislators have such control over the power they wield, how much faith does he have in his own ability to “manage” our money supply and economy?
