Economic Gymnastics

Part of the problem with our economic system is that it is run by a bunch of eggheads who have likely not gone out and bought a dozen eggs or a loaf of bread in years. They are living in a bubble, completely detached from the everyday people who struggle to make ends meet.

Instead, these elite intellectuals are locked up in their “think tanks”, presumably….thinking. But given the current state of affairs, they might just be playing Super Mario Brothers or Solitaire on those supercomputers of theirs.

I took Economics in college-and I still remember enough of it that terms like “M-1” (money supply) and “discount rate” make sense to me. However, when you delve into “derivatives”, “hedge funds backed by commercial paper”, etc…I start to glaze over. My guess is that most other people do too.

Yeah, let’s “fix” the economy, but what the hell do you actually DO? I haven’t the foggiest notion of what WOULD work—or worse, what could make the situation more dire. It’s my guess that Congress doesn’t know either. Aside from the shared indignation for continued multi-million dollar bonuses for managers of bailed-out companies (hey, it’s OUR money they are getting), there is little to grasp onto.

My guess is that guys like Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke rely on this collective ignorance to spin their web of excuses and reasoning for why things are not getting much better—and especially for shielding us from the specific information on exactly WHERE all that money went to. I don’t accuse him of willful malfeasance—however, there is a certain amount of arrogance and disdain born of the feelings of intellectual superiority that rise to the surface when the lowly (Congress, the media, the American people) challenges their judgment.

First of all, I have NO IDEA whether Bernanke is the man for the job. I thought he was a bright economist with a scholarly approach to the job given his supposed expertise with the historical underpinnings of why the Great Depression was made WORSE by meddling from Congress and the President.

Ben sat in a very hot seat yesterday—as he was grilled, toasted, screwed and tattooed by the Republican Senator from Kentucky, Jim Bunning. I have no idea if he knows what he is talking about, but watch this and see if what he says has merit:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVwr-Nf0slQ

OK…do you have an opinion?
Bernanke did a poor job of defending himself, I think, but where would you begin to refute all of the accusations?

I don’t know if Bernanke is part of the problem, but I sure would like to hear him answer each charge definitively.

Would love to hear YOUR feedback on this---maybe your opinion will become mine, as I currently don’t have one!


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