Enough with the Bernanke bashing
Within the confines of a totally dysfunctional government, the Fed chief has done what he can.
Enough Bernanke bashing already. I am sick of it, just sick of it. Let me ask you a simple question: What have the other central bankers done right that makes him seem like such a dope to so many of you?
Sure, the Fed chief was slow to recognize the housing bubble that was created by his predecessor's attempts to stoke the economy after the burst dot-com bubble that his predecessor created by never raising margin rates. Sure, he should have cut to the bone in 2008, but commodity inflation was raging.
Since then, Bernanke has done his best to get housing restarted -- working; keep retail afloat -- working; and generate some construction of late. This is all within the confines of a totally dysfunctional government that includes the worst partisanship since the Civil War. Does everyone blame him for that, too?
Have you ever listened to Congress when it badgers this man? It's insane. Its members know so little that it is a wonder he even stays on the job.
In the interim, what have his colleagues done? Let's see, last year, former European Central Bank President John Claude Trichet raised rates twice. That was brilliant! That nailed inflation in its tracks, didn't it? That has to be the dumbest policy move of the decade. The ECB still has not come to grips with its crisis the way much-derided Bernanke has. We would really be calling for those guys' heads. As it is, we had to listen to a totally wrong Fed president from St. Louis, who advocated tightening here at the same time Trichet wanted it.
Is that what the Bernanke bashers want? A little solid tightening?
How about the Indians? They've done a bang-up job of slowing growth while stoking inflation. Bravo. Much better than Bernanke, no?
And let's deal with the Chinese, those so-called brilliant businessmen. Here you have a command economy, no GOP-Democrat fratricide there. They were supposed to have everything figured out. They have nothing figured out other than they know to dump goods into Europe and Europe ain't taking them anymore. That's the real cause of their problems. Is their central bank filled with genius? I prefer Lenin's New Economic Policy. Now, there was a central banker-cum-dictator who knew how to get the job done with maximum slaughter.
So I say enough of this already. Bernanke has done what he can. This is all on Congress and President Barack Obama. And if you want the world's economy jump-started, I think the German Supreme Court is more important than Bernanke.
Lay off him. That's an order.
Random musings: I'm thinking Facebook (FB) is really losing out to Twitter in part because of the latter's mobile apps. I like using Twitter more on mobile than on the desktop, in part because Facebook is trying to trick you into clicking on ads, which makes it so younger people will leave in droves. I liked Facebook as long as the migration from desktop to mobile was slow, and I was counting on that. But it turned out to be lightening-like, and that's why the numbers are slowing so badly. Happened on a dime, right around when Peter Thiel put in his sell order. Remember, as I wrote at the end of "Confessions of a Street Addict," it is better to be lucky than to be good. It was dumb luck that caused the sell program to be entered just when the desktop faded and mobile took off, wasn't it? Wasn't it?
Jim Cramer is a co-founder of TheStreet and contributes daily market commentary to the financial news network's sites. Follow his trades for Action Alerts PLUS, which Cramer co-manages as a charitable trust has no positions in the stocks mentioned.
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Anyone who thinks that doubling the amount of $ in circulation was a good thing is in the pocket of the of the current admin. (Puffing on something good I'll bet.) Probably Kenyesian as well.
There is no way that the average person is better off now than when these clowns took over in 2009. Forget about what was done before. Obama RUNS this economy NOW.
They have had almost 4 years to make the changes needed to insure US solvency...they chose not to. Their ONLY agenda was to help those in their miniscule voting base so to ensure a huge turnout. It is the only chance they have at getting another shot at our pockets. I quit working to starve them of my $ and will continue to do so. Good luck spending MY $.
If Twitter becomes an IPO, it's just another to avoid.
I see FB is still falling like a train. Just as I thought. Too bad I didn't short that stock. Oh well, not going to do it now, though.
With Zero Interest Rate Policy, banks no longer have a legitimate way to earn profits, so they turn to speculation and highly leveraged and risky investments called derivatives. Sure, the banks are greedy, and probably would have done them anyways. But instead of bailing out the banks, he should have taken a principled capitalist stand and let them fail. Now, he should break up the big banks before they fail, because the taxpayers can't bear the burden of another bailout. But when the big banks collapse, they will cause a major financial collapse.
Finally, I agree with Jim. The gridlockers in Congress are looking for any excuse to blame anyone they can except themselves....President, Cabinet, SEC, Supreme Court, Wall Street, Energy, Health, Europe, China and the list goes on...especially to Bernanke all the while giving Greenspan a break when he should be villified for his lacksadaisical watch.
new slogan: The Economy, it's up to us, stupid.
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