Gary North on Bernanke and the Fed

The Federal Reserve has lost a lot of its legitimacy. It has also lost a lot of its secrecy. By opposing the audit, Bernanke is positioning himself as an anti-democratic representative of the Wall Street banks. Of course, this is what every FED chairman has been. But this is the first time since 1914 that any FED chairman (or his equivalent) has had to adopt this positioning in full public view.

This is bad news for the Federal Reserve. When the economy gets worse, as it will, the FED will receive its share of the blame, which is considerable. Bernanke is the primary visible agent of the FED. He will no longer get a free ride. The critics are at long last getting a hearing by the informed public – the people with lots of money deposited in large banks. This is why he has been going on television to present his case. No other FED chairman in history has been forced to do this. This is a sign of the degree of panic in the boardrooms.

The more often Bernanke goes on TV, the more people will think: "Methinks he doth protest too much."

This is a very good thing.

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