January 29th, 2010

Chairman of the fed Ben Bernanke has been voted in for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve.  Bernanke’s confirmation is met with a lot of controversy, which is very different considering a Fed Chairman’s confirmation is usually so vanilla that it only requires a voice vote.

Bernanke’s confirmation was even met with a filibuster, with 77 votes for a filibuster – only 60 votes are needed to secure this action.  Several senators voted to end the filibuster, but turned around and voted against the confirmation of Ben Bernanke.

In 1983, Paul Vocker was voted in as Chairman with an 84-16 margin, and that was looked at as “controversial.” Ben Bernanke’s confirmation was met with a 70-30 margin. This is the smallest margin ever for this type of confirmation.

The controversy surrounding the confirmation is somewhat paradoxical.  In December, Time Magazine named him “Person of the Year” and hailed him for “saving the economy.”  However, now the nation’s current economic problems are largely placed on his plate of blame.

In addition, President Obama and Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid both made lots of calls to lobby to ensure that Bernanke had a second term. The slim margins of the confirmation could be indicative of the President and his administration’s low approval ratings.

Our unemployment rate is as high as its ever been, and our nation’s debt is in the trillions of dollars.  Our economy isn’t exactly as strong as it once was.  Let’s just hope that Bernanke can help reverse course, and that at the end of his second term we will be better off than we are now.

Source:

Yahoo Finance