Ben Bernanke - Student of The Great Depression

At the time of his nomination (and continuing today) Ben Bernanke was widely lauded as an expert on the subject of The Great Depression. 

June 15, 2007, The Wall Street Journal: 

"As an academic in the early 1980s, Mr. Bernanke pioneered the idea that the financial markets, rather than a neutral player in business cycles, could significantly amplify booms and busts. Widespread failures by banks could aggravate a downturn, as could a decline in creditworthiness by consumers or businesses, rendering them unable to borrow. Mr. Bernanke employed this “financial accelerator” theory to explain the extraordinary depth and duration of the Great Depression. (Much of that work was done with New York University’s Mark Gertler, now a visiting scholar at the New York Fed.)"

At no time in our recent history have we needed a more steady hand. There is a complete vacuum of political leadership in our country today with George Bush (#41George Herbert Walker Bush, #43 George Herbert Hoover Bush) hiding somewhere in the White House looking like a deer in headlights when he has to come out.

"History proves that a smart central bank can protect the economy and the financial sector from the nastier side effects of a stock market collapse" ...Ben S. Bernanke,Foreign Policy magazine, October 2000.

During times like these it is reassuring to know that we seem to have a steady hand on the tiller of the Fed. Let's hope that the ideologues who currently run our government allow him to steer a steady course.