Ben The Boogeyman

December 11, 2009

With unemployment in double digits and elections less than a year away, the search for an economic boogeyman is in high gear on Capitol Hill. Meet Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve. President Obama’s nomination of Bernanke for a second term, together with financial regulatory reform proposals from both the administration and Congress, have given lawmakers a chance to blame the Fed for current conditions and to try to …

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Activist-In-Chief

July 23, 2009

President Obama is hitting the airwaves daily in pursuit of a health care reform that he refuses to define but which he insists we must have. He is behaving like the community activist he used to be, while the situation requires him to be a leader. There is a big difference. Last night it was a prime-time news conference. Today it will be a tour of the Cleveland Clinic (closed …

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Congressional Kangaroos Hold Court

June 30, 2009

The kangaroos are holding court on Capitol Hill, where a House committee suspects Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke of preventing another economic train wreck. Bernanke was perp-walked last week in televised hearings that explored his role in the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America. (In case you don’t know the term, a perp walk occurs when the authorities parade an arrested suspect, usually handcuffed, in front of news …

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Does GM’s Bankruptcy Presage America’s Too?

June 5, 2009

As GM goes, so goes America. Well, I hope not. GM filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday because of years of complacency and overextended benefits to its mostly unionized workforce. Not surprising since the auto company, which occupied the driver’s seat in the automobile industry following World War II, has been hemorrhaging customers for decades. Over the last 30 years, GM has been losing almost one percentage point of …

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Merkel On The Fed

June 4, 2009

If you had to choose between an economic depression today and the risk of inflation sometime down the road, what would you do? The answer is obvious but it is not always the same. If you are American or British, you probably will do whatever it takes to avoid the massive unemployment, rising poverty and other ills a depression would bring. We have seen inflation before. It was not that …

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