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The Latest On Bernanke: Obama Now Directly Calling Senators To Generate Favorable Votes
Senator Dick Durbin has said that he hopes the Senate will reconfirm Bernanke by the end of the week, and
that President Obama is actively calling senators to boost Bernanke.
One wonders if this weekend's massive campaign to push for Bernanke has been insufficient.
And other news we have gotten recently:
- These are senators who have recent voiced their support for Bernanke recently:Bennett, Nelson, Byrd, Hagan.
- These are still undecided: Leahy, Udall, Cardin, Klobuchar, Thune
In order to placate Senators, Bernanke promises that the Fed will be more "accountable and transaprent" - we wonder, to whom will it be transparent, and just how will it be accountable, especially the next time the market crashes and all banks require yet more bailouts.
From Bloomberg:
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S.
Bernanke pledged “transparency and accountability” at the
central bank, especially on the American International Group
Inc. bailout, while reiterating his opposition to audits of
monetary policy, Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin said.
“He was very frank and candid in acknowledging that
mistakes were made at many different levels” before the
financial crisis, Durbin of Illinois, the second-highest-ranking
Democrat in the Senate, told reporters today after meeting with
Bernanke on Capitol Hill.
Bernanke acknowledged “that some of the early statements
made for example about AIG counterparties went too far,” Durbin
said. “He said at this point he can say clearly that there will
be transparency and accountability at the Federal Reserve.”
Senate leaders plan to hold a vote this week on Bernanke’s
nomination for a second term starting Feb. 1.
Bernanke, 56, is the “best person for the job,” Durbin
said. Because some Democrats will oppose Bernanke, some
Republicans would need to join Democrats in supporting the Fed
chief, Durbin said.
“I don’t take anything for granted until the final vote,”
Durbin said.
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You can't burn down a cedar forest. They gotta come out by the roots.
Amen and excellent analogy. Look guys/gals, Bernanke, Greenspan or whomever... it is like rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic. The real crooks, er um, i mean banksters that need to be dealt with are at:
http://www.save-a-patriot.org/files/view/whofed.html
ZH'ers need to get into their bankster vocabulary names like Rothschild, Morgan, Warburg, Lazard, etc. The sooner ZH'ers realize simply pruning the 'tree' without ripping out the 'roots' you are doing absolutely nothing to truly cure the core problem.
Thomas Jefferson warned of the damage that would be caused if the people assigned control of the money supply to the banking sector, "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a money aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. This issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered." --- Thomas Jefferson, 1791
Would really like to know the content of some of these phone calls.
"Hey, uh, would you...y'know...vote for Ben?"
"Uh...ok."
"Look, I know it has been a hard year. If you vote for Ben, uh, it will get better. Look, I know I have not done anything I said I would, but, uh, it is not my fault. I, uh, inherited these problems. Look at me dance! Woohoo! Loud noises!"
Real quotes, "NAFTA was a mistake." "I will get us out of Iraq the first day I am in office. You can take that to the bank." Yeah BO, in the same way that I can take a worthless doelarr to the bank. I want my gold FED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or maybe.."Uh hey, The big "O" here, um yeah...well, Billy boy said I could sorta send out Monica to personally thank anyone who, you know, votes how the boys want this to go. So yeah...something to um, sorta thinky think about, no dirty dresses this time promise, really tight lipped."
and barney for those who prefer. he likes to party.
Oh, thanks for THAT visual. I'm going to have to go out and butcher a hog now to get that out of my head.
"Butcher a hog" - is that the new eupemism for Barney's recreational activities?
You all should be ashamed of such ridicule.
"Yeah, my man! S'up bra? I be needin sum rub on the B-man. Sheeeeeit, gimme sum luv bra."
Obama phoning senators:
"Yo nigga, give mad props to my homme Ben Franklin o I'z put a cap in yo a$$"
This kind of fucking drivel belongs on AOL message boards.
uh-huh
I called Harry Reid's D.C. office at 5:00 p.m. Eastern and was told that the cloture motion had not filed as of that time and that Reid has not made an statements about the cloture motion.
On friday Reid's office had indicated that today was to be the day to file the cloture motion. who knows.
I strongly urge folks to read Chris Whalen's piece on today's ZH Contributor list.
Thanks for the update Tyler.
Hate to yell you I told you so but I told you so.
:-)
Yoda says: enough votes have they not!
I think the senate is beginning to realize keeping bernanke was a mistake. If he fails to be reconfirmed, look for the guillotine to begin falling at the treasury and within the administration. Deservedly so too, these crooks are leading Obama by the nose to places he does not want to be going to.
We need to spin this as a "middle class American revolution", a Jacksonian revolt against the Federalists for economic determinism. Might steal a bit of Teabagger thunder, but the movements might coalesce.
There's no need to spin anything. Bernanke's record speaks for itself. I think your reference to "Teabagger" is meant to be Tea Party, which isn't an actual political Party but rather a movement based on ideas.
no offense Whisper but I've spoken to a few from this "movement" and they don't know about anything that is discussed here at ZH - just seem to be mad at "immigrants" and that tax and spend congress and think Sara Palin "gets it". they certainly don't know the difference between the fed and the treasury and what is spent by congress versus printed by the fed. They also don't seem to understand that one of their main financial backers - that asshole Dick Army - is just as responsible as any other congressmperson for the mess we are in. Every one I talked to was just stuck in the red-blue bs that the oligarchs keep stirring up to keep the masses confused.
Aye!
Subscribe every word Baron...same impression when i talked to them. The Ultracon from time to time spin off some "movement".
Then u discover their role models are invariably Rush Douchebaugh and Sarah Palin , the rifle toting soccer Mom...same old, same old
Well I think they get the big picture: 1) a big deficit leads to a debt spiral -- that's bad. 2) the gov bailed out the banks and now they're screwing their customers. 3) we need to focus on certain bad guys -- terrorists. 4) immigrants should pay taxes. 5) insurance companies and drug companies are scum. 6) Bama talks alot and does nothing.
All I can add is; "you betcha".
We've seen what the non-tea partiers can do: spend, legislate, consume, spend, consume, legislate, spend, collapse...........bail out.
Anybody want some tea? I do.
Nay! You're stuck on stupid and in denial. Much generally, the "tea baggers" are smarter than you city boys by a long shot and have at least begun to hit the streets with some real action and adversity. What have you douche-bots done except play armchair captcha and mouth off?
"Nay! You're stuck on stupid and in denial. Much generally, the "tea baggers" are smarter than you city boys by a long shot and have at least begun to hit the streets with some real action and adversity. What have you douche-bots done except play armchair captcha and mouth off?"
Absolutely spot on.
These guys voted for 'their Messiah' and its purty darned hard to admit when you have been had.
Hey, don't sweat it, guys, I'm sure President Obama's gonna be making them 'HOPE AND CHANGE' he promised.
He's already pulled out all the troops from Iraq, hasn't he ?
Aww... Well, you know, its only been A YEAR !
BUT in that short period of time, he SAVED the economy and millions of new jobs.
Now, if you ain't got a job right now, I'm sure he's working right hard at finding you one, just keep saying to yourself......... I gotta keep that ole HOPE AND CHANGE.
And he's agonna take me to that PROMISED LAND.
The ones I talked to sure knew how corrupt the fed and investment banks were. We may get another black friday after all when the next collapse comes.
Very true. The Progressive Movement is the only hope for the middle class.
ZH is for a crowd of people, and I generalize, that have some sort of appreciation/talent for math. Just my two cents.
Given that most people aren't really abstract thinkers, its misleading to lump them into the dumb bucket without further qualification.With this said, make no mistake that a working joe realizes he is being screwed over a barrel. Does he have the full background/facilities to properly quantify the circumstances? No. But so it goes.
Somehow I feel that if I was three hundred years old, I would recognize this song and dance.
Cooter
So we're all clear on what a "teabagger" is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3W9HdAMGMc
I am getting the feeling either way it goes is going to be bad but I can not have BS in there any longer! It is like when we got Bush out, but who will do better? Volker? IDK....
let's declare we are putting in Jim Cramer
just to see what China does
Cramer would be awesome at the Fed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BS!
Oblame can help with their campaigns, he's good at that.
One wonders what the quid pro quo was for Durbin's statement?
For Obama this has nothing to do with Bernanke and everything to do with the string of defeats for the democrats. His full court press is evidence of how worried he is about HIS administration. It doesn't have anything to do with Bernanke actually being the best person for the job.
How does one appropriately measure Bernanke's job performance? All i know is the S&P (and/or the dow) should be irrelevant in measuring the Fed Chairman's performance. Conversely, the only thing the administration cares about going into November2010 is dow above 10,000 and unemployment under 10%.
1. Price stability - FAIL, house prices, commodity prices, all swinging wildly
2. Full employment - FAIL.
Feynman had a quote related to the shuttle disaster many years ago, one that stuck with me through the years; "you can fool man, but you cant fool nature". I paraphrase, but this was the jist of his observation.
Economic gravity anyone?
Cooter
Lifted from NSA hack: "Hey, it's Barry... yeah ... yeah, I'm calling about Ben ... you know, after I was sworn in I learned a lot, you know? Like, you can't really imagine what $43MMM a year for surveillance buys, especially when we don't have to worry about the Courts anymore. Especially when we really only really have to pay attention to 535 people! So ... you're voting with us, right? Wise move."
What about Lautenberg and Giilibrand?
Menendez and Schumer are on board the
Looterville Trolley
Forget about Gillibrand. She is a Schumer puppet and will vote in which ever direction he does. She is having trouble in the polling however which is likely why she has not outright said she would vote for Bernanke but I assure you she will if Chuck is. I already sent her an email yesterday along with Schumer informing them that if they vote for Ben they may as well against themselves and made it quite clear that the American people will consider any vote for Ben a vote against them.
Your either with us or against us pols. Let Mass. be a warning.
GAME OVER MAN WHAT THE HELL DO WE DO NOW?
Your movie quotes are pretty damn funny.
If Ben is thrown out, should we sell our gold? If Larry gets in, the answer is no, but if Paul were put in there...would there be a rush for the exits?
Inflation rate since 1913 = 2100%
Your gold, it's a keeper.
If Zimbabwe Ben gets the boot keep your gold. Uncle Ben is just the face man for policy anyway. Okay if we got Ron Paul in there you wouldn't want to sell your gold anyway because he would torch the Fed. Maybe if we get someone like Jim Rogers in there but he has already left the sinking ship and appears to be enjoying his life raft.
You've seen the problem solving. Money that detoriates if it's not put in a bank. Why abandon a fighting style in the middle of a beating that's working. I mean your gold in your safe has blood all over it. It's coup stick is marked up like an outrageous warrior of ass kicking and you're here questioning it's abilities. I think you need to go find your gold kiss it and tell it your sorry.
Amen brother. I don't know what he was thinking. I think he should have sex with his gold tonight. Christ, after all it's done for him lately.
Who would actually think that the dollar is going to be worth MORE in the future?
I've had the same concern. As I consider gold a store of value, I'll pass it on to my son. (I hope that I still have both when this is all over.)
From Ron Paul today
http://www.house.gov/paul/
First of all, no one should be compelled by law to operate in Federal Reserve notes if they prefer an alternative. We should repeal legal tender laws and allow Americans to conduct transactions in constitutional money. Only gold and silver can constitutionally be legal tender, not paper money. Instead, it is illegal to conduct business using gold and silver instead of Federal Reserve notes. Simply legalizing the Constitution should be a no-brainer to anyone who took an oath of office. Consequently, private mints should be allowed to mint gold and silver coins. They would be subject to fraud and counterfeit laws, of course, and people would be free to use their coins or stay with Federal Reserve notes, as they see fit. Finally, we should abolish taxes on gold and silver, which puts precious metals at a competitive disadvantage to paper money.
that's brilliant
+1
+1
...
+1
Have you heard about this?
http://www.rense.com/general78/defeat.htm
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/nov/17/businessman-robert-kahre-sen...
http://www.lvrj.com/news/5367515.html
...posted this earlier on another thread
The Return of TRUE Capitalism - a layman's point of view
1) Abolish the Federal Reserve - the market itself can and would determine the appropriate interest rate levels - that is my "efficient market theory" hypothesis
2) Return to a gold standard to reign in future ill-advised congressional spending and to further instill public confidence in currency - however, that in itself is simply not enough. I am aware that under present circumstances gold/silver would be immensely higher to level-set the current gross imbalances.
3) Do not issue treasury bonds (on which interest is paid) whereby dollars are created out of thin air by the Federal Reserve banking system. Rather, have an uncompromised government control the money supply by controlling/issuing the appropriate amount of non-interest bearing currency in circulation by a matching principle that optimizes the exchange of necessary goods and services - this would then satisfy the unenlightened's fallacious point that "the debt is irrelevant and that we owe the money to ourselves" - only under this proposed scenario could this be true. In addition, this would almost entirely solve the "hidden tax" of inflation which has (since 1913) and continues to erode the purchasing power of our currency
4) Eliminate all fractional reserve banking - a true 1:1 relationship - this also shows that simply a return to the gold standard is not enough (recall that we were on the gold standard during the Great Depression, part I)
5) Reinstate Glass-Steagall to break up commercial and investment banking for obvious reasons (everyone reading thus far needs no explanation)
6) Eliminate the utilization of derivatives contracts - they are, and always have been vehicles to exacerbate the ponzi system made possible by a flawed monetary system that MUST have expanding and continuous (and recently exponential) growth in order to survive
7) Remove all taxes other than a modest tax based solely on consumption. One would find that, by adhering to the recommendations above (in particular #3) the need for virtually all taxation would be entirely unnecessary thus exposing the current reality that the income tax, among others, merely seeks to perpetuate a broken system of wealth restribution (to the elitists masquerading within the current government structure) and the dis-incentivizing nature of productive utilization of resources (chiefly labor)
8) Repeal GAAT/NAFTA and level the field that currently has exported jobs/industry off-shore in the name of lower labor costs/maximization of shareholder wealth to the benefit of the corporate elitists. Lack of internal based production of desirable global goods (for internal or external-based consumption) ALWAYS leads to trade imbalances thus having an improper import/export relationship that frequently disadvantages a nation's currency.
9) Reform the congressional terms by imposing term limits on both houses. For example, both houses having a maximum amount of two 4-year terms that cannot be consecutive. There must be, at minimum, one four-year absence (preferably two) in between the maximum of two terms by any nationally elected official. This would largely de-claw the lobbyists/special interest groups that currently plague our "democracy".
There are many other useful recommendations to be sure; however, in my humble opinion, this would be a start.
Comments appreciated.
My comment: they all sound like excellent ideas. But...
None of the ideas you listed will ever happen. Why? They are not in the interest of those with power. Power. It's not just a word - it means they decide and you do not. Period.
Let me put it another way - you are the buffalo, and they are the lions. You don't have a prayer.
Unless...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
But seriously we out number them by far - but they are cunning. Will America restore it's birthright and save it's young from the banksters?
Time will tell, I guess.
Lions = banksters
Crocs = politicians
I think there is a reason why that clip is so popular. Maybe similar to the reason why the movie Avatar is so popular.
MsCreant -
Enjoy your posts. Hold your gold regardless. While Gold/Silver may go down with a equities crash, it will return to much, much higher levels. None of this has anything to do with fundamentals behind the eventually worthless fiat FR notes known as the dollar (among many other nations' central bank paper scrip).
- BB
I was mostly stirring up crap, but it did cross my mind. I will, of course, hold. I am young enough to be long and as a commenter pointed out, I can give it to my son who would dig it, big time (don't know if he could sell it or not!).
Thanks, good reading.
if I was a Senator, I would give out rumblings and wait till Thursday to see what kind of offer I would get from the WH. After all, thats what we have become conditioned to expect.
That would explain Obamas jibberish on national TV, something about penalty fees on bank robbers that were fleeing the scene. If they were 6 blocks from the scene, no wait, 12 months from the scence; just let em go but let's charge them a penalty fee , because like I said the other night, "the American Public will never be held hostage again by a bank. They will have to at least blow up a city, this according to the CIA report. Furthermore, the CIA feels scare tactics are no longer enough to accomplish objectives, it is possiblely time to take some collateral damage as was the case on 911.
This is all political theatre now. They will re-confirm him. I thought they would throw him under the bus. They will get 60 votes counted, then allow the Senators up for re-election to vote against him if they want to avoid giving them problems in November.
They cannot afford to have Ben at large, talking freely about who did what to whom, and when, etc. Also, they cannot stampede the Chinese etc. when so much Debt has to get sold this year. So, BHO is holding his nose and going ahead with Ben. To turn back now would look weak. We will suffer for O's image preservation.
This can only mean that Timmy is finished, since somebody must go.
The dogs bark, but the Caravan rolls on. Our kids will pay....
Volker is 100 yrs old, not up to it
Check that 82 and he'll be fine
..."while reiterating his opposition to audits of monetary policy..."
Again with the misdirection. Audit the Fed is not about monetary POLICY...it's about a look/$ee.
That's right, Dick...don't take anything for granted.
Not that it does any good, but called Thune's office and gave them the "a vote for Bernanke is a vote against Thune".
Last i heard was Obama had requested ACORN to campaign for Ben. :)
BAsed on the way the votes went for Health care, only a moron would say yes right out of the gate.
Senators should hold out to the end with the indecision, and a sweet reward will be theirs! What will that be? I dunno, a seat on some board, or guaranteed appointments on the lecture circuit at 100K a pop.
Whether he deserves it or not doesn't really enter the picture, but that is politics, right?
i can't imagine a president expending so much political capital on a turd who could be replaced just as easily with another turd....
he may get his win but it will be pyrrhic....
Those that vote for Bernanke and who are up for reelection this cycle will lose their seat in the fall, as the failure of his policies begin to become more evident.
Does it matter who is playing the organ (with theirs) behind the curtain?
Get em Toto.
I am sure the usual scumbag senators are all playing their cards close to the chest to see what porky pig projects they can get for their "yes" votes.
I was just thinking - Will Bernanke be Obama's first win ? Looking at NJ, Virginia, Mass, Health Care, The Olympics, Cap and Trade...
Don't get ahead yourself with healthcare...this will make your blood boil. http://www.dickmorris.com/blog/2010/01/25/pelosi-and-reid-plot-secret-pl...
Lets not forget Copenhagen.
You know he'll be reappointed. Obama is too arrogant to think he could have gotten it wrong.
articles are popping up across the econoblogosphere calling into question Benny being given tenure e.g. the current headline on Business Insider
http://www.businessinsider.com/
(a conspiracy type might think that some well placed rumors could translate into some $$$$)
come on..you think its going to matter who is at the Fed ? I call this much ado about nothing.
Did anyone notice the Obama "spending freeze" proposal? This is sort of like the prop trading ban. Good idea, never see the light of day.
Keeping Bernanke would be soooo populist of Obama since that is the schtick du jour.
One Big American Mistake, Amen!
I agree that Bernanke leaving probably wouldn't have much effect, given the committee nature of the Fed. But I don't give a crap. I'm sick of the "but they could find someone worse" argument.
Bernanke has been an epic fail in almost every respect. He didn't regulate the banks. He didn't see the iceburg until we hit it. His actions during this crisis have been secretive and shady at best, and illegal at worst. This type of failure should NOT be rewarded with another term, period.
fo shizzle mah nizzleman benny b. inna hizhouse!
When will the American People understand that the President serves at the discretion of the private central banks and their Federal Reserve holding company, and not vice versa.
If the central banks want Obama fired, Obama wil go.
Obama has no say-so in who runs the Fed...the central banks tell Obama whom they want appointed, and Obama does as they say or Obama is history.
Sqworl. ;-) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7tDWA9PfGg
Obama HIMSELF is now CALLING Senators to ask them to vote Yes on Bernanke Cloture.
Here is the list of Senators who are Democrat, Undecided, AND running for reelection. Obama and Geithner are calling these folks. We must call them too!
Specter, Arlen – (D – PA) Class III
711 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4254
Mikulski, Barbara A. – (D – MD) Class III
503 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4654
Kaufman, Edward E. – (D – DE) Class II
383 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-5042
Gillibrand, Kirsten E. – (D – NY) Class I
478 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4451
Burris, Roland W. – (D – IL) Class III
387 RUSSELL SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-2854
If you don't want to see Bernanke confirmed, please call these senators and follow what Mish said.
You can find zip codes for the above states at http://www.zip-code-database.org/
Other senators can also be called. Please see http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2010/01/tell-senate-no-on-bernanke-clotur...
Thanks everyone!!
Don't care if Specter personally writes me a check as a bribe to vote for him.
I can't wait to throw this mealy mouthed, political reprobate out.
Mish's directions on what to say: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2010/01/dump-bernanke-how-you...
If Scott Brown comes out and calls for a delay on the vote until he is seated, that will be the end of Bernanke. Indeed, I think he is finished anyway. I said on this site the day after Brown was elected:
Geithner OUT
Romer OUT
Summers OUT
Bernanke OUT
Now if I may make another prediction, I think the next Fed chair will be a member of Congress. My question: who?
Dear Ben,
Why you calling senators and pleading to be reappointed? Why do you need this stupid low paying job?
BE A MAN BEN!
BE A MAN!
BE A BEN MAN!
BE A BEN!
There is job for your at GS. Its pays more and they are waiting... Come home little Ben...
"...mistakes were made..."
Mr Durbin, you are the lowest scum to hide behind this
ridiculous legalese.
I want to be optimistic towards Obama but it is impossible with all his contradictions. We will never be held hostage by banks and yet christmas eve a 4T emergency bailout clause was snuck into another piece of legislation. Geitner head of the Fed and he didn't pay his taxes, the subprime problem went supposedly unnoticed right under his nose while he was head of the NYF. Larry Summers you could write a book on all the crap he has been involved in. These were his choices? They think the common man is an idiot and will take anything they dish out, and so far it looks like they are right.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke pledged “transparency and accountability” at the central bank, especially on the American International Group Inc. bailout, while reiterating his opposition to audits of monetary policy.
Im not buying Bernanke's BS. He still says no audit of the fed. Why should we believe Bernanke when he talks about being more Transparant? Did we get Transparancy from Obama? Hell No! Don't expect anything more from Bernanke. He will do like Obama, say what folks want to hear, but do the same as before. Nothing is going to change.
And don't give me that BS about a Benanke bounce on Monday. It was a suckers rally. Opened much higher and sold down during the day to close with a small gain. Had you been buying at the open, your probably holding a loss.