Opinion: Bernanke’s charm offensive: No Fed chair’s ever done this before
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He sat down for a lengthy “60 Minutes” report in March, taking CBS on a walking tour of his hometown in Dillon, S. C. He’s opened the Federal Reserve’s notes to public scrutiny, written newspaper articles explaining its policies, even given a virtual televised news conference about its decisions.
Now, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has gone where no other chairman of the usually aloof agency has gone: He’s held a town hall meeting, talking to everyday citizens in Kansas City, Mo., to hear their concerns about the economy.
Moderated by PBS’ Jim Lehrer, the meeting is to air on PBS stations this week. Asked why he chose that venue, Bernanke said: ‘To talk to people outside the Beltway, to hear what they are thinking, and do the best I can to try to explain what’s happening in the economy.”
And talk he did.
David Houston, a third-generation local small-business owner, complained to Bernanke that when....
...the U.S. government rescued those ‘too-big-to-fail companies’ such as insurance giant American International Group, it was ‘hard to swallow’ for small-business owners, who were also struggling to survive the recession.
‘Nothing made me more frustrated, angry than having to intervene, particularly in a couple of cases where taking wild bets had forced these companies close to bankruptcy,’ Bernanke confessed, adding that inaction would have been worse.
‘I was not going to be the Federal Reserve chairman who presided over the second Great Depression,’ he said. ‘I had to hold my nose and stop those firms from failing. I am as disgusted about it as you are. I think it’s absolutely critical as we go forward that we put in a new system that will make sure that when a firm does not succeed in the marketplace, that it fails.’
Appointed by President Bush, Bernanke’s four-year term expires in January, and maybe he is hoping a flood of good publicity will sway President Obama to reappoint him. Or maybe he wants history to paint him in a sympathetic light, as the man who saved the U.S. economy from a repeat of the Depression.
Either way, it’s kind of refreshing. Maybe Congress should try this kind of transparency.
-- Johanna Neuman
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