Senate Banking Committee Confirms Bernanke for Second Term, Goes to Senate Floor for Full Vote

While it’s not certain Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be confirmed for a second term by the Senate, he has taken one more step toward that probably being the case, as the Senate Banking Committee voted 16-7 to give the beleaguered Bernanke another four-year stint at the Federal Reserve helm.

As usual, Senator Jim Bunning was very vocal about his opposition to retaining Bernanke for another two years.

Bunning asked the Senate Banking Panel to put off voting on Bernanke until he and the Federal Reserve released more information on their secretive dealings with the companies they bailed out, which in many cases went beyond the authority given the Federal Reserve by Congress. Automakers and insurance companies like American International Group Inc. don’t come under the umbrella of the Federal Reserves mandate, and so there is a lot of questions that need to be answered as to how Bernanke came the conclusion he had the authority to bail them out with taxpayers’ dollars.

“I hope and ask that every member of the committee will join me in demanding that we be given this information before moving forward,” Bunning said. “We must know what the Fed is hiding from us and from the American people.”

Many others, including lawmakers and regular Americans want to know what the Federal Reserve is hiding as well. Hopefully we’ll get a full audit from the General Accountability Office to bring it all to light.

Altogether, six Republicans and one Democrat voted against Bernanke being given a second term. Now the issue will be brought to the Senate for a full vote, where it seems Bernanke will be allowed to serve a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman. Too bad for all of us if that happens.

I found it bizarre that one Senator backing Bernanke for a second term, Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), said while he understands that Bernanke made mistakes, he was no different than any other financial regulator who had done the same.

Corker added that he couldn’t think of a person who could do a better job than Bernanke. Makes you wonder what Corker is smoking doesn’t it?

Bernanke wasn’t just incompetent, he was arrogant and simply started playing god with the money of the American people as he announced who he would bail out and who he wouldn’t. It didn’t matter if he was acting within the parameters of the authority of the Federal Reserve or not; he simply did it. This is why he should have been rejected as a candidate as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, along with not even being able to identify that the economic crisis we faced was upon us.