Wait...what?

I thought Mitt said he didn't think Helicopter Ben was doing a good job?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com//2012/08/ ... 20362.html

NEW YORK, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Ben Bernanke received an unlikely defense of his work at the U.S. Federal Reserve by a top Mitt Romney adviser, who said on Tuesday that he should be considered for a third term as chairman.

jpete wrote:I thought Mitt said he didn't think Helicopter Ben was doing a good job?

He did. This is what an adviser and pal of Bernanke thinks, not Romney unless he changes his tune which he would be crazy to.

It matters little if Mitt loves Bernie or not. The Presidential appointment of the Fed Chairman is a total sham anyway. The Fed's board gives the President a very short list of names (and for all we know it might be so short as to be only one name) and the Prez picks one. Then he gets on TV and announces "his" choice for the Fed Chair. It's all smoke and mirrors.

lsayre wrote:It matters little if Mitt loves Bernie or not. The Presidential appointment of the Fed Chairman is a total sham anyway. The Fed's board gives the President a very short list of names (and for all we know it might be so short as to be only one name) and the Prez picks one. Then he gets on TV and announces "his" choice for the Fed Chair. It's all smoke and mirrors.

I can't believe that the President has no influence as to the names on that list.

Do you still believe in the Tooth Fairy as well?

jpete wrote:Do you still believe in the Tooth Fairy as well?

No, but I do think power politics exists. The President and Congress have a great deal of power over the Fed. They can have it audited or even get rid of it. I think the President will get who he wants.

franco b wrote:

jpete wrote:Do you still believe in the Tooth Fairy as well?

No, but I do think power politics exists. The President and Congress have a great deal of power over the Fed. They can have it audited or even get rid of it. I think the President will get who he wants.

You do believe in the Tooth Fairy. Either that or you are playing Devil's advocate here.

franco b wrote:

jpete wrote:Do you still believe in the Tooth Fairy as well?

No, but I do think power politics exists. The President and Congress have a great deal of power over the Fed. They can have it audited or even get rid of it. I think the President will get who he wants.

Ron Paul has been trying to audit or get rid of the Fed for 30 years.

The last guy that got close was John F Kennedy.

Get the picture?

jpete wrote:Ron Paul has been trying to audit or get rid of the Fed for 30 years.

Yes,but he is not the President, there is a difference, especially if the President has majorities in Congress. I believe they could make it very hot for the Fed if they chose.

franco b wrote:

jpete wrote:Ron Paul has been trying to audit or get rid of the Fed for 30 years.

Yes,but he is not the President, there is a difference, especially if the President has majorities in Congress. I believe they could make it very hot for the Fed if they chose.

Operative word, "chose".

But why would they choose to end the mechanism with which they all get rich and we get poor?

I'll go even farther, and suggest that the Federal Government has absolutely no regulatory authority over the Federal Reserve, and that the (so called) Federal Reserve is not Federal. It would take (and has taken) an act of Congress to audit the Fed. If it was a real Federal agency there would be full Congressional Oversight as there is for all other Federal agencies and departments. That is clearly not the case here.

One guy's simple litmus test was to look up the Federal Reserve in the phone books within the cities where the Fed's branch offices are located. In each case he found that the Federal Reserve's phone number was listed in the same section as Federal Express, and not in the blue Government section.

There is a popular YouTube video wherein Congressman Dennis Kucinich declares on the floor of Congress that "the Federal Reserve is about as Federal as Federal Express".

jpete wrote:

franco b wrote:

jpete wrote:Ron Paul has been trying to audit or get rid of the Fed for 30 years.

Yes,but he is not the President, there is a difference, especially if the President has majorities in Congress. I believe they could make it very hot for the Fed if they chose.

Operative word, "chose".

But why would they choose to end the mechanism with which they all get rich and we get poor?

We are talking about who will head the Fed not end it. If Obama were re elected do you think there is any chance in hell for a Paul Volcker type to be chosen if not acceptable to him?

franco b wrote:We are talking about who will head the Fed not end it. If Obama were re elected do you think there is any chance in hell for a Paul Volcker type to be chosen if not acceptable to him?

I don't think that is up to the President, regardless of who the President is. All Presidents must conform to the dictates of the Federal Reserve Board. They are his/her masters. They hold the purse strings without which he would stand naked and powerless before the entire world.

I still believe vice versa, but you have worn me down.

franco b wrote:I still believe vice versa, but you have worn me down.

How do you figure Helicopter Ben keeps getting reappointed?

If Obama was such a "Change" agent, wouldn't he replace the Fed chief?

Can you name any other person in his administration left over from the Bush administration?