While one can talk until one is blue in the face about the pros and cons of the current central bank's (mis)deeds over the past 7 years, the reality is that most people are backward-looking (i.e., economists), not forward (which of course explains the prevalence of speculation as to whether the Fed's exponentially rising balance sheet will result in hyperdeflation or hyperinflation). As such, one can, for now at least, judge the Fed merely in the context of what it has achieved to date, not by the seeds of destruction it has planted. So how has Ben Bernanke performed so far when compared to his previous 4 predecessors, at least based on those two now completely irrelevant, but still oddly believed mandates: inflation and unemployment (because by now we all know that even the Chairman himself admitted the only thing that matters to the Fed is the Russell 2000 closing value). Below we present the Fed's accomplishments in the arena of inflation and jobs in the context of the past 60 years split by Chairmen starting with Martin (remember the 1951 Accord? [8]), then going to Burns/Miller, Volcker, Greenspan and finally Bernanke. So who has been the fabbest among the Fed-est? You decide.
Inflation:
[9]
BofA's commentary:
"On target inflation: On target inflation: Under Bernanke the Fed has adopted and hit a 2% target for inflation for the PCE deflator, with headline inflation averaging 2.17% and the core 1.87%. Moreover, by almost any measure, under Bernanke inflation has been the lowest of any modern Fed chairman. Fed officials have made clear that inflation can be both too low (as in 2009) and too high (as in 2007). However, if the Bernanke-led Fed has a secret plan to create high inflation, it is certainly failing."
And Unemployment:
[10]
"Off target unemployment: The Bernanke-led Fed has done much worse on hitting its full employment mandate. The unemployment rate has averaged 7.2% during his term compared to the 5.9% average of the last 60 years. While some of this high rate may be structural and out of the Fed’s control, most of the increase is cyclical."