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Does Bernanke Look Like a Man Who is Confident About the State of the Economy and the Prospects for Recovery?
There is a lot to say about Bernanke's comments on 60 Minutes yesterday.
Bernanke's statement that unemployment is the biggest impediment to economic recovery is ironic, given that Bernanke's policies have increased unemployment. See this and this.
Harry Blodget notes that Bernanke implied that inequality is destroying America. Tyler Durden hones in on Bernanke's statements that the economic recovery may not be self-sustaining, and that the Fed may buy even more bonds. Daily Bail picks on Bernanke's claim that the Fed is not printing money.
There are certainly a lot of interesting things to say about Bernanke's words.
But I think the real story is how nervous Bernanke appears.
Listen to his voice, and watch his lips quaver:
Ignore his words ... does this look like a man who is confident about the state of the economy and the prospects for recovery?
Does this sound like a man who is sure that history will judge his actions kindly?
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QE isn't working because there is nothing left to invest in. Everything is overpriced in terms of profits and fundamental analysis, and Obummer keeps uncertainly on highest alert.
Ben is printing hot money, which circles the globe at light speed looking for a few nano-seconds of profit, and then moves on. Anyone else see a problem with that?
he serves at the President(s) pleasure, I don't think he's worried about anything. When it hits the fan he will drive off in a limo.
It's all they know how to do. Dealing with the real structural issues isn't an option, ever, so those won't get touched. QE is easy, it helps the banks and gooses up some meaningless stats a bit. It is subject to the law of diminishing returns, but so is dollar.
QE is like icing on a pile of dog shit. Or a shot of adrenaline to a terminal cancer patient. Or cocaine to recover from a hangover so you can continue to guzzle whiskey.
his lip quivering and eyes shifting are obvious examples that hes completely in control and truley believes what hes saying...
oh, and i wonder whats the figure for QE3 will be...
Ben is not as smart as Einstein, but even he understands that by Einstein's definition the QE2 is pure INSANITY! Doing same QE-thing, and expecting the unemployment to magically improve when it did not such thing after the QE1.
"Pssssst.....hey Ben, if what you have done/are doing hasn't worked up to this point, what makes you so sure that doing the same thing will have any other outcome?"
This is the stuff that really scares me. It isn't working, it hasn't worked, it has made things worse or incapable of improving. Yet the Fed and the Admin. continue on the path. This is the time when everyone realizes that they have no answers and are incapable of thinking outside of a very small box. Print more money, pump more cheap money.
That is plan A, plan B, plan C and so on. Very scary.
I really wished there was some psychoanalyst that could review this video and give us their professional opinions on what his face and voice tells us other than we're fucked.
While I am not a a psychoanalyst I can point out some things to consider when watching these things. I have some training and some interview experience.
There is no real continuity to observe in this interview in one major respect. The timeline. While it is engaging content with the scene cuts and inserts, the perspective shift and camera movement gives the illusion of back to back question and answer. This is not true. If any part of the interview is weak or a participant fails (stammer, eye twitch, stumble whatever) then no problem, try again. They just splice together the successes and everyone can look confident and capable with no tell-tale gaps or awkward silence.
Looking for eye cues etc is tough in this context because I am unsure of which ‘take’ I am watching. Is it scripted? Has Ben written out his answers in advance (likely for serious questions in most major interview cases) and are they visible to him via tele-prompter out of shot? On that note if a TV persona ever gets on a long rant with an apparent 1000 yard stare, look for light reflection on the pupil and you can see a tell for reading if that reflection has minor left/right motion.
Content is combed over by multiple parties to ensure it is clean from potential trouble, the goal being to nicely dovetail and close upon itself ‘naturally’. Unless we something live, with no prescribed question lines we don’t have a real reaction. We don’t have the truth of the individual or the issue. Yes I want clean information content and expect some grooming, just not completely sterile from reality.
End story: buyer beware as ususal
Did you see Scott Pelley's face? He didn't believe Bernack for a second. Liar is going to take us all down.
You know he must go through a pack of Depends every day...
IMO, Ben couldn't screw up last night. If he puts on a flawless performance, his mojo on the people works and we get "recovery". If his lips quiver and he fails miserably, the gov't and bankers use him as a scapegoat for everything, but nothing bad will ever actually happen to Ben Bernanke.
lips quiver? i thought it was a little elvis thing goin' on.
http://amyfortier.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/reverse-elvis-snarl.jpg
He is ready to have a break down
Precisely my impression, too.
Paraguay is looking better and better to Ben.
Ben has developed some nervous twitches? I did not notice those in earlier appearances.
The Ben Bernank looks like an Xtranormal avatar.
When they said "The 600 Billion dollars are the FED 'reserves' and will not add to the deficit because it's the FEDs money" - I almost pissed in my pants
Relax, Azannoth. Try to stay focussed on this quote instead: "We've looked at it very, very carefully. We've analyzed it every which way... We're not printing money."
This will one day rank right up there with the claim that we had reached a "permanently high plateau," made in 1929.
Ben isn't printing any physical money because they SUCK AT IT!
The Fed Has a $110 Billion Problem with New Benjamins
"1.1 billion of the new bills have been printed, but they are unusable because of a creasing problem in which paper folds over during production, revealing a blank unlinked portion of the bill face.
...
The total face value of the unusable bills, $110 billion, represents more than ten percent of the entire supply of US currency on the planet..."
But BINARY is not BURDENED by this bullshit...
Bank Holiday, just in time for Christmas
Credit where credit's due (unintended pun).
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing are the folks who handle the actual coinage and currency creation.
They're part of Treasury.
Under Timmah.
An' dat hec'splain's a lot, Luchie!
Well, if they slowed down the speed of the printing maybe they wouldn't crease. I know they need to print at nano-second speed bc they will have to add another 0 on that bill soon, but they need view this problem as a sign and STOP!
LOL!!
This should be front page.
Good thing Blackhawk has that same denomination in red monie ready for distribution. Get to the choppa!
Ben Bernanke is a joke and will go down in history as the worst financial idiot in history! The worst part of it is that he claims to have studied economics at Harvard. Harvard will go down in history as the worst school in economics!
Ben is 100% sure.
http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=8112
That is the first thing I noticed last night. The WAY he was speaking seemed odd, vs. other interviews/speeches I have seen him give.
He was wearing the large, super-absorbant Depends last night...
Bernanke does not have what it take to be a banker, you can tell when he lies(it's like with poker, if you have tells your game is up)
Did you notice that the CBS cameras cut away from his face just about every time he told a big lie?
His beard is trembling in fear.
you know, watching that last night, i thought the same thing. this guy KNOWS he fucked up huge -- biggest fuck up in recorded history....
and ... so...now what? now what?
he has no clue whatsoever how to dig his way out, so in the meanwhile, he just keeps digging...
i found the interview terrifying.
I'm not someone who subscribes to the incompetence theory around the crash and subsequent FED actions.
Unforunately, having that opinion made me even MORE terrified by this interview. What in gods name does Ben know that we don't? Who is threatening him because I assure you he isn't worried about what the proles think.
One thing I will say is that I don't envy the man. The noose is tightening around his neck and real power holds the rope.
I felt this guy knows who he is. He has probably developped a high opinion of himself, for certain grounded reasons and he is uncomfortable when he is questioned about that in an appropriate manner.
He did not look like a man in fear. He looks like a guy extremely irritated, nearly angry.
The article analysis is a big failure because it does not provide an assessment of the questions.
Questions are extremely poor in quality. Not open questions One finger close from
Investigator: Are you printing money?
Ben: No, I am not.
A framed investigation led by people much more interested by reminding Bernanke who is in charge than by guys who want to know.
No substantiated questions, no ground like "some say that it is a very bad idea"
People should look at the questions before anything.
Bernanke is shown around as a freak by guys who wanted to put a show. They are not interested in knowing, simply pretending. Routine questions, a matter of showing who is the boss.
Any one who has been through the same situation can easily relate to Bernanke.
The guy is irritated, maybe angry at being played as the central figure of a comedy show. Ben thinks he is worth much more than being exhibited around like that. Sure about that. His body reactions tell that. But he is absolutely not in fear. Bernanke reacts to his immediate environment, that is a crowd of people flexing their muscles. The questions are way too vague to force him to relate to the results of his actions.
It is all about the relationship to be established between Bernanke who is the actual leader because performing the real actions and guys who are the theorical leaders, guys for whom Bernanke is a supposed subordinate, kind of.
Anger is simply the next level up from fear.
Dr. Phil??
Bernanke diggin his way out: http://7.media.collegehumor.cvcdn.com/b/9/collegehumor.ffac1f9b02298f7b2c2dfa09380c77ec.jpg
Ditto
Seriously. Same reaction. His hesitations, quiverings (if that's what they were) were obvious and a little disconcerting. Especially for a chpa that's an accomplished public speaker; lecturer, media presentations, economic events, congressional testimony.
Whether one agrees with his policies is one thing, but the hinkeyness of the physical presence was unsettling.
Well, he DOES have a lot of reasons to be terrified.
I'm glad I wasn't the only one who spotted this. His lips were trembling for the first 15 minutes or so of the interview. He didn't inspire any confidence in me.
Also, my roommate noticed how his forehead didn't move. She guessed botox.
Yes.. It was pretty apparent in his voice. For a man that has been put in so many high profile situations, you'd think he'd be able to speak with more confidence. His voice was down right shaky.
I wouldn't want that job. The masters probably selected him because they knew he had faith in his policy of liquidation during an economic contraction, and would act on their behalf, through his own beliefs. Perhaps Ben is finally realizing that he's being used as a front man for the final act of the bankster confiscation of all middle class wealth, and the rage being directed at him from around the world is wearing him down.
ever since he won Man of the Year his pictures look like a man who is seeing Doom.
It's not so much making mistakes as it is seeing the inevitable conclusion of fiat currency and simple math.
Has anybody else noticed that the Time Man of the Year award is a huge clue to upcoming fuckups? Obama got it in 2008, and Bernokio got it in 2009.
Obama gave us trillion$ for banksters, 4 more years of Bernokio, health care 'reform' to make the system worse, and bupkis for Main Street.
Don't even get me started on Bernokio - that joker should be hanging from a lamppost...
Dude, the cover of Time magazine is a well-known indicator to peakiness. When I saw the Ann Coulter cover, I was so damn happy.
Ann Coulter rocks. If you have a problem with what she says then you may want to look in the mirror. Grow some balls. Or go jack off to Playgirl.