CBS Allows Fed to Spread Disinformation Unchallenged

It appears the CBS TV show 60 Minutes is the Federal Reserve’s go-to place to get its message out to the country. Fed Chief Ben Bernanke, basically, told America last night that the trillions he pumped out into the world economy, because of the 2008 financial meltdown, was necessary to save us all from a depression. Ben also reassured America and the world Quantitative Easing (QE), or printing vast amount of dollars, will not have an inflationary downside. He told 60 Minutes reporter Scott Pelley he is “100%” sure inflation will remain under control and will not soar higher. In my opinion, what Mr. Bernanke said could not be further from the truth. Most of the world’s financial leaders from places like China, Russia, Germany and Brazil all think what the Fed is doing is a very bad idea.

Anyone who finds Mr. Bernanke’s inflation prediction comforting should look at his past forecasts. The Fed Chief has been wrong on almost every major prophecy he’s given since he’s been in office. Just 4 years ago, Ben Bernanke predicted “a leveling out or a modest softening” in residential real estate prices and that homeowners were in “reasonably good”financial shape. Three years ago, Mr. Bernanke said the sub-prime mortgage crisis “seems likely to be contained.” Since then, we’ve had record foreclosures in the millions per year, and in some markets, home values have been cut in half!

Bernanke admitted last night he did not see the financial meltdown coming. How could he say anything else? Pelley did ask Bernanke, “How did the Fed miss the looming financial crisis?” Bernanke responded, “There were large portions of the financial system that were not adequately covered by the regulatory oversight.” It was the Federal Reserve that said repeatedly Over-The-Counter derivatives did not have to be regulated. Derivatives are exotic and sometimes toxic “debt bets” with little or no regulation, standards or guarantees. Soured OTC derivatives were largely responsible for the meltdown of 2008. If there were large portions of the economy that “were not adequately covered by the regulatory oversight,” it was the Fed who lobbied against regulating these “debt bets.” So, the Federal Reserve’s lack of regulation over a market, that is hundreds of trillions of dollars in size, is the cause of the meltdown of 2008. 60 Minutes did not bring up this important point.

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