As we have reported frequently over the past few months [12], the 'with and wisdom' not to mention the 'foresight' of Chairsatan Emeritus Ben "subprime is contained" Bernanke is now available for a fee. A $250,000 fee. For this amount one can join the company of such Fed-frontrunning hedge fund luminaries as David Tepper and Michael Novogratz who, side by side Bernanke at Le Bernardin, heard him says that there would be "no rate normalization" during his lifetime, [13] just in case anyone was wondering what the state of the US "recovery" was.
According to the NYT, [14]"The setting was so intimate that the group took up just one of the four-star restaurant’s three private dining rooms."
Some recently "nervous" people overcontemplated the whole thing and imagined there were hidden signs to be caught.
David A. Tepper, founder of the $20 billion hedge fund Appaloosa Management, who was also at the Le Bernardin dinner, expressed regret that he did not trade on Mr. Bernanke’s guidance at the dinner.
“He gave this stuff out, but I didn’t realize what he was saying at the time, so I didn’t do a great trade,” Mr. Tepper said at the conference in Las Vegas last week.
That's ok David, he didn't realize what he was saying at the time either.
Unfortunately, Bernanke will continue to get paid handsomely for "as long as it takes" for the "experts" to realize that Bernanke is as clueless about the economy now as he was during his time at the Fed, and that no actionable information can be extracted from him [13]:
"He's being paid ... for sharing his wisdom and predictions, and presumably not to exert his influence on the Fed," he added. This will go on "until he's proven to not be all that clairvoyant."
And yet, the days of Bernanke's "non-Giffen good" speech circuit may come to an end far sooner than the ex-Chairsatan wishes: "UBS and Goldman Sachs considered his fees too high, according to two people briefed on the discussions between Mr. Bernanke’s representative and the banks but not authorized to speak about either publicly."
Others were quick to point out the obvious. According to infamous bear now uber-bull, whose recent short bonds call leaves a bit to be desired, David Rosenberg, "You can spend $250,000 for Bernanke’s time at a private dinner, or you could just sit down and read what people like Janet Yellen and Mark Carney have to say," Mr. Rosenberg said, referring to the governor of the Bank of England. "You can actually do that for free and pretty much draw the same conclusions."
Spot on: then again, one can also not pay thousands of dollars to subscribe to newsletters of writers whose bullish "opinion" is regurgitated for free 24/7 by CNBC anchors.
But the worst news is that actual, not implied, deflation in demand for Bernanke speeches is already appearing:
Since his busy week jetting around the world in March, Mr. Bernanke has made several other appearances, including at a private equity conference hosted by the Blackstone Group a few weeks ago. He is scheduled to speak in Pennsylvania at the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce’s annual event on May 28, where members will pay $225 for a ticket.
Alas, at $225 a ticket, this means that his next speaking venue better be filled to the brim (by Amish listeners?) to satisfy the generic $250,000 speaking fee. And since that means that Bernanke's insight will be extensively diluted (get it), it means that the willingness of people to listen to what he has to say will plummet, alongside the real disposable income of the US middle class as overseen by none other than Bernanke himself.
Indeed, this is one deflation which we are confident the Fed Chairman wishes he was 100% certain he could stop in 15 minutes. Sadly, like in the case of everything else relating to Bernanke, when paying for smoke and mirrors it is only a matter of time before everyone, even the uber-richer poseurs, realize that the product they are buying is nothing but a cheap commodity.