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John McCain Next To Endorse Bernanke Booting, Supports Volcker Or Taylor As Fed Chairman
No sooner did Jeff Merkley announce his opposition to Bernanke ahead of tomorrow's reconfirmation farce/hearing, than key Republican Senator John McCain said that he was leaning against voting for the the Chairman. McCain said he would favor either former Fed Chief (and apparently only sane economist in the Administration) Paul Volcker, or ex-Treasury official, and creator of negative implied interest rates, John Taylor.
Some more from Dow Jones:
McCain joins at least two other Republicans who plan to oppose Bernanke's renomination. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) has also said he opposes Bernanke's renomination.Despite this, Bernanke is widely expected to be approved by the Senate for a second term. The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to hold a confirmation vote on Bernanke Thursday morning.A spokeswoman for the panel said there is no way for a member to delay Thursday's vote. Other Senate committees, like the Judiciary Committee, allow members to delay a vote by a week.
The logical political implications of this move are material: should Democrats be unable to maintain their majority hold after the upcoming mid-term elections, the populist tide against the Fed will be a substantial pent up force in 2011. How that would shape the org chart of the Fed subsequently is still unknown but it likely would not be in favor of the Man of the Year.
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a great video from earlier today
Bloomberg host goes after Levitt on Goldman's ethics
Bloomberg's Erik Schatzker to Levitt
http://video-static.clipsyndicate.com/cs-video/flash/production/3/flvpla...
Nice duck and cover, John.
Did Ben being on the front of Time "nail the Top" of his time at the the FED
On a side note...
Has ZH got hold of the new "Breakfast With Dave" yet ?? :-)
Maybe like the Sports Illustrated cover jinx?
Recall the mirrored computer screen for PoY in 2006?
How'd that work out for you - or me ;-)
Pete
How much does it cost to buy that designation from Time Warner, with accompanying puff-piece?
It must be a done deal now if Mr. Keating 5 has jumped on board.
Volcker? Holy dollar bottle rocket ... Wait who said it? McCain? Nevermind ... stunt.
McPain must be in more trouble back in AZ (he's up in 2010) than previously thought.
he's not the only one
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/12/sarah-palin-barack-ob...
Manchurian Mountain Mama.
Betcha she still thinks cascading cross defaults are a float at the Castro Street Fair.
Wink.
It'll be close for Johnny Mac in '10, but the Dem midterm backlash should be enough to save him his seat. The AZ economy is in deep shit, though..... so anything can happen.
I'm surprised he didn't recommend his old drinking buddy and economic adviser, Phil Gramm, for the Fed post. Phil would blow much bigger bubbles than Ben. And there would be less whining while he does it.
My guess is that he's in bigger trouble in the primary than in the general - assuming he gets a top-tier challenger, that is. But like I said, it's only a guess.
House Dems are gearing up Amnesty for illegals again. This works against McCain since he is a big backer of selective law compliance.
.......... go for it .......... Mr. Volker ........ get some respect & sanity back in this United States of America ! ...... someone needs to whip this country into shape, we need it & he's the person to do it. .... show that damn GREENSPAN / BERNANKE how it's done !
Volker has already politely said ala Danny Glover "I'm too old for this shit".
Volker...so what would he do? Would he crank the interest rate up to 20% again? And if he did how could we finance the massive debt we have now? As seen on this site we roll a MASSIVE amount of debt each week, so any rate adjustment will be instantly seen in the interest cost of the debt. So instead of inflating the dollar away we would be forced to repudiate the debt. Personally I'm fine with a debt repudiation but we have to realize that bringing rates up to save the dollar makes the debt burden impossible to carry. We only have 2 ways to clear the debt, repudation or inflation.
Well put. Many advocates of rising interest rates only see one side of the equation. Yes, higher rates would firm the Dollar but with so much outstanding debt out there, the cost of carrying that debt for the US becomes impossible.
The debt cannot be financed at current levels and a debt expansion is in the works. Higher costs to carry the debt would mean the US economy keels over.
This is not the Sixties, Seventies or Eighties. There's no new economy to bank on. Production and manufacturing are gone offshore. Banking is leaving town also. What's left? Barristas and hairdressers?
Tax revenues are declining rapidly. No recovery there.
Rate hikes + lower tax rev + more debt = financial armageddon
I forgot to add the new pillar of the US economy.
Lawyers
Yep, an army of legal experts will bring the next boom phase.
True Shameful... unfortunately not much he can do without triggering RE, Stock and bond market collapses and yes the massive debt would be unfinancable.
But when the shit is finally hosed down off the fan at least you would have Volker not Bernanke at the controls.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,666757,00.html
(Volker interview last week)
This is good.
Great, we moved the needle from 97% of the Senate to 96% of corrupted representatives still in favor of the status quo rape and pillage of American citizens.
Moving in the right direction though... albeit quite slowly... but it is more likely a large asteroid will hit us than the needle will drop below 90% :-)
And if we didn't have Bernanke manning the printing presses and pushing them to maximum capacity... then the supply of money available to Wall Street to rape and pillage from us would run out and then where would the United States be... cripes we might end up looking like Norway, Australia, Canada, Sweden or Switzerland... all of which are ranked on the United Nations Development Index in the top 10 most desirable countries to live (the good old USofA has now fallen to #13).
I was under the impression that a Senator could put a hold on the nomination process - is this the wrong committee or am I thinking of something else entirely.
I agree with above poster, Volcker's hands are tied. If he raises rates and we start defaulting - dollar goes into the trash bin. Damned if he does damned if he doesnt.
From FireDogLake on 12/03:
As Ben Bernanke’s confirmation hearing begins in the Senate Banking Committee, a source tells FDL News that one Senate staffer and an outside source confirmed to him that at least one Republican on the committee will also place a hold on the Federal Reserve chairman, throwing the process into potential turmoil and giving Chris Dodd a difficult series of choices to make.
Dodd, who just announced his intention to vote for Bernanke’s confirmation in the Banking Committee and on the floor of the Senate, would be in charge of the decision to honor or ignore that hold. The fact that Dodd tried to place a hold on the FISA Amendments Act in 2007-08, and was generally ignored by Harry Reid, just adds a layer of irony to the process.
http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/12/03/exclusive-republican-to-place-add...
I was under the impression that a Senator could put a hold on the nomination process - is this the wrong committee or am I thinking of something else entirely.
I agree with above poster, Volcker's hands are tied. If he raises rates and we start defaulting - dollar goes into the trash bin. Damned if he does damned if he doesnt.
By By Ben
Non je ne regrette rien
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5gpBncR8zI
You know a nation is doomed when its "key" senators include people (and I use that term generously in this case) like John McCain and Joe Lieberman.
Yes, their screams will be pretty.
I am Chumbawamba.
Bernanke is not a done deal for confirmation.
Obama's readings of the externals clearly show that his base is being lost big time due to the bernanke, geithner, wall st/bank mess. They are absolutley furious at him and view him as either clueless to the banking situation or completely owned by the banks: neither is a good perception.
I'm quite confident that discussions have happened that are questioning the wisdom of going with Bernanke. If the pressure from Obama's base continues on the banking mess (they are already besides themselves on health care and he is losing that battle) he may pull the Bernanke nomination.
I still think it more likely than not that Ben remains as Chairman but this is definitely a moving event and not one of the usual done deals where certain Senators get a pass. If the polls continue to deteriorate, all bets are off from where I sit.
The only problem with that situation is what about Ben? He probably still wants be Fed Chairman, I know it's my dream job. So what's to stop him from doing massive harm on the way out the door, or getting a case of loose lips about how insane the real Fed balance sheet is? The problem is Ben has a lot of cards in his hand and Obama(his handlers) can't just take away his toys without his permission or his tantrum could shake the pillars of heaven. Sure that Summers is drooling over the job, and he was the guy I thought would get it. Hell I made a bet with a friend that Summers would be Fed Chairman, so still have some hope to win that bet if Ben does lose his toy :)
Summers is a political toxic asset.
He would never get through the Senate committee door let along proceed any further. It is near impossible for him to have a shot at his dream job at the Fed. Way too much baggage from Clinton era and the Harvard stint doomed him politically.
I totally agree that he is toxic waste, but I don't think it means all that much. I think it more depends on timing. Most people do not know who he is or do not remember. Most people are simply not informed, they know who Tiny Tim and Uncle Ben are because they are in the news a lot, Summers not so much. I'm sure Summers would have resistance but I could still see them shoot an attempt at it. Granted you are correct if the nomination voting process took any period of time it would be almost impossible to get him through. After all the senators by and large couldn't give a damn about if he is good or not to the country they are only asking themselves "How will this make me look to the voters" so if the voters are not quick to remember who Summers is they could slide it on through and any fallout would largely go to Obama himself.
politically speaking for the Obamites, my guess is that the mere mention of Summers name would rile the entire female Obama base. that would probably be number one from a political standpoint, which has nothing to do with finance, economics.
the brooksley born issue on derivatives when summers was a clintonite would probably come in number 2.
Rahm and Obama wouldn't even think of nominating summers. ain't gonna happen.
why wouldn't they try to stick that piece of shit, rubin in there
I believe the thing to stop Ben from saying anything is either a large back of Ben bucks or the promise of a hot lead injection were he to be so imprudent. Don't forget the old "heart attack" and "car accident" scenarios...
McCain is a senile fuck, so I don't really care about his opinion. His handler made him say it anyway. I would feel better about Volcker, but what can he do except bring down the broken system softly? I would be scared of a redux of the 20% int rates as that would kill off the remainder of folks who are scraping by.
So why the voices against Ben-- surely it's not reason. I say it's positioning to say I told you so when it hits the fan. Might as well call him prez O'hoover at this rate.
+1 political cartoon of the week:
http://images.politico.com/global/cartoon/091216_cartoon_600.jpg
But..but...Ben is TIME MAGAZINE's MAN OF THE YEAR
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091216/ts_nm/us_time_bernanke
What's next. ben in the SI swimsuit edition??
Ben is Time's Man of the YEAR:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091216/ts_nm/us_time_bernanke
Pathetic...no wonder I never read that drivel.
Volcker?
I would nominate William McChesney Martin.
Oh wait, he's been dead for 10 years.
Never mind.
If John Taylor becomes the next Fed Chariman who will play bass for Duran Duran?
I thought he was the drummer for Queen.
Taylor is anti-stimulus, which means he's got a snowball's chance in hell of becoming the next Chairman.
Why must we put an academic in as Fed Chairman? What's wrong with picking someone like a Jim Rogers? Shit if it has to be an academic my money literality is on Summers, but hell why not Roubini? He hates gold so he's 1/2 way there.
Rogers would be better than the names commonly bandied about. If they're going to allow the Fed to supervise and regulate banks (instead of splitting those functions off to another entity), Brooksley Born or William K. Black would be good. There were many others who warned of this collapse. One of them should be appointed instead of Bernanke, Summers, or Rubin who did everything they could to enable the banksters.
Volcker's too old, but it would be a good move. Most decent cultures put "village elders" at the top of the heap for their basic wisdom -- a quality sadly lacking in America these days.
Andrew Jackson for Fed Chair. He would hand out the pink slips and padlock the doors.
Americans don’t need a different or another Fed chair, and that includes Paul Volcker. If the Fed is not abolished, the Fed will abolish America.
Since 1933 when Eugene Meyer resigned from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, no member of the international banking families has personally served on the Board of Governors. They have chosen to work from behind the scenes through carefully selected presidents of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and other employees. We can assume the same for the treasury.
There is no doubt Tim Geithner as president of the powerful Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has had considerable hands-on experience in the creation of the present credit crisis. Further, there probably now can be little doubt that he has been on the path from the Fed to the U.S. Treasury for a long time, just as was Paul Volcker--also a past president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York from 1975-79--on his way to chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, first under Carter and then Reagan. Volcker started at the NY Fed as an economist He was succeeded as president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank by Anthony Solomon, a Harvard Ph.D. who had a similar background to Volcker’s. There are many similarities between Geithner’s appointment for the treasury and Volcker’s for the Fed chairmanship:
The New York Times, on the appointment of Volcker as Carter’s chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, wrote on July 26, 1979, that Volcker learned “the business” from Robert Roosa, a partner in Brown Brothers Harriman, and that Volcker had been part of the Roosa Brain Trust at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and, later, at the treasury in the Kennedy administration. “David Rockefeller, the chairman of Chase (now JPMorgan Chase), and Mr. Roosa were strong influences in the Mr. Carter decision to name Mr. Volcker for the Reserve Board chairmanship.” Robert Roosa was Carter’s secretary of the Treasury, and represented not only Brown Brothers Harriman of the London Connection, but the Trilateral Commission, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergers, and the Royal Economic Institute. He also was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation and a director of Texaco and American Express companies.
The Times further noted that the Dow market rose on Volcker’s nomination, registering the best gains in three weeks for a rise of 9.73 points and that the dollar rose sharply on foreign exchange at home and abroad.
On December 2, 1981, the Times mentioned that when Open Market Committee meetings were held, Solomon, as NY Fed president, and Volcker, as chairman of the Board of Governors, sat together at the head of the table and relayed instructions which they had received from abroad.
Rockefeller and Roosa also were highly influential in Carter’s nomination as the presidential candidate of the Democrat Party.
VOLCKER = TRILATERAL = ROCKEFELLER = BUSHES = CLINTON = BERNANKE = geitner = KISSINGER = OBAMA = a bunch of european douchebags with funny names = GREENSPAN =
We lose.
Trilateralist & Bilderbergers need to be tried en mass Nuremberg style for crimes against humanity.
Sorry, shadow President McCain doesn't appoint the Fed Chairman. If he actually had been elected I think they would be voting on nominee Kudlow right now. That would be sufficiently mavericky and who knows if he had keeled over at his inauguration and President Palin was calling the shots. Fed Chairman Pat Robertson?
Volker would never be nominated and wouldn't take the job because he knows he is too old. Too old to be blamed for the financial collapse that would come from a changing of the guard there.
Isn't Volker the same guy that destroyed US manufacturing with stubborn money-supply policy that jacked up the interest rate to double digits and caused dollar index to vault over 100? Wasn't that the time Japan and other countries stole US manufacturing jobs that NEVER came back? A position as important as Fed chairmanship needs someone who is pragmatic, someone with degree of common sense. Someone like Dallas fed president Fisher.
300 million Americans and only a dozen or so of the same insiders are qualified to hold economic positions? we can't find anyone outside of Summers, Rubin, Bernanke, Geithner, etc? what a corrupt hellhole we live in!
Finally some green shoots!
Volker took the central problem of rampant inflation and inflationary expectations in the late 1970's and eliminated it by making debt expensive. Yes, it was painful but it was necessary. He was pragmatic and effective.
Today, we have a cheap money, debase the currency, pay later country that needs to accept there is no free lunch. Priming the pump presumes you have a pump. Sadly we "outsourced" our pump manufacturing to China, and the pump doesn't work.
It was Bill Clinton (pushed by Wallmart) that sent American jobs to China, and it was George W. Bush that got us into regime change in Iraq, so that we had no negotiating power left with China.
One day America will need to come to grips with the fact that it has created a monster that is nearly impossible to contain. Currency manipulator- not so says Timmy.
Majority- Christopher Dodd, Chairman, Connecticut Yes
- Tim Johnson, South Dakota Yes
- Jack Reed, Rhode Island Yes
- Chuck Schumer, New York Yes
- Evan Bayh, Indiana Yes
- Robert Menendez, New Jersey Yes
- Daniel Akaka, Hawaii Yes
- Sherrod Brown, Ohio Yes (soft may change on the floor)
- Jon Tester, Montana Yes
- Mark Warner, Virginia - Yes
- Jeff Merkley, Oregon - No
- Herb Kohl, Wisconsin Yes
- Michael Bennet, Colorado Yes
Minority