I've never posted a youtube video, but this is a good one..

[alchemize]

I'm feeling a little bit like a Ron Paul Bot, but this is good:

Ben Bernanke, Top Dawg at the Fed Wrong time and time and time again...

Would have liked to have seen this back when he was nominated. Wow...

In other news,
Fed sucks more than the IRS, according to polls

 

[Moonbeam]

I remember that. Just after he spoke millions and millions of economists and world money authorities marched out in the street shouting 'bogus, Bernake is a lying fraud'. It was terrible, millions in damage occurred and the riot police kill thousands.

 

[bamacre]

You don't need to be a Paulbot to understand why the Fed has failed us.

 

[Craig234]

I wonder what would have happened to him if he had predicted the September 2009, crash exactly, in his comments preceding years. I suspect he'd have been gone.

"Hi, Wall Street, in contradiction to virtually all the predictions and estimates from the financial industry, I think I'm going to plummet the stock market by predicting its fall from 12000 to 8000 in late 2008. I could be wrong, but that's what I think will happen, so I'll say so now so you can all go sell and make it happen now instead, in case I'm correct."

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Craig234
I wonder what would have happened to him if he had predicted the September 2009, crash exactly, in his comments preceding years. I suspect he'd have been gone.

Why would he have predicted such a thing? If he did, he'd have to say why it was coming, and that would have called for sharing the blame.

The ironic thing is, he's the one "fixing" our economy. Shouldn't we be listening to people who saw it coming? Whether they be Keynesian/Austrian, either way I think people would be more comfortable.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Craig234
I wonder what would have happened to him if he had predicted the September 2009, crash exactly, in his comments preceding years. I suspect he'd have been gone.

Why would he have predicted such a thing? If he did, he'd have to say why it was coming, and that would have called for sharing the blame.

The ironic thing is, he's the one "fixing" our economy. Shouldn't we be listening to people who saw it coming? Whether they be Keynesian/Austrian, either way I think people would be more comfortable.

Does anybody listen to you?

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Craig234
I wonder what would have happened to him if he had predicted the September 2009, crash exactly, in his comments preceding years. I suspect he'd have been gone.

Why would he have predicted such a thing? If he did, he'd have to say why it was coming, and that would have called for sharing the blame.

The ironic thing is, he's the one "fixing" our economy. Shouldn't we be listening to people who saw it coming? Whether they be Keynesian/Austrian, either way I think people would be more comfortable.

Does anybody listen to you?

Only you. :heart:

 

[StageLeft]

I've been saying this for a while. He was completely blindsided by what many saw coming and has been charged with being a key player with what he completely misunderstood to begin with.

 

[Stuxnet]

An eye opener, for sure.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I've been saying this for a while. He was completely blindsided by what many saw coming and has been charged with being a key player with what he completely misunderstood to begin with.

If I told you what would happen tomorrow and I was right and then did the same thing the next day and so on, how long do you think it would take before the world turned to me for my predictions?

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I've been saying this for a while. He was completely blindsided by what many saw coming and has been charged with being a key player with what he completely misunderstood to begin with.

If I told you what would happen tomorrow and I was right and then did the same thing the next day and so on, how long do you think it would take before the world turned to me for my predictions?

Depending on how specific it was possibly as little as a day for some people and as long as forever for others.

 

[magomago]

Yeah I'm amazed how he still has a job. Even if you can't pin it to him directly, and you want to say Greenspan has a bigger role as leader of the fed, this guy was essentially greenspan's protege. You'd think you'd want to bring in someone trained in different/new ideas.

 

[JS80]

Catch 22 for him. If he had talked negatively about the economy and markets crashed people would have asked for his head.

 

[Special K]

Credit for compiling these quotes goes to a poster on the FWF forums here, but these quotes echo the message of the OP:



March 28th, 2007 ? Ben Bernanke: "At this juncture . . . the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime markets seems likely to be contained,"

May 17th, 2007 ? Bernanke: ?While rising delinquencies and foreclosures will continue to weigh heavily on the housing market this year, it will not cripple the U.S.?

June 20th, 2007 ? Bernanke: (the subprime fallout) ``will not affect the economy overall.''

October 15th, 2007 ? Bernanke: "It is not the responsibility of the Federal Reserve - nor would it be appropriate - to protect lenders and investors from the consequences of their financial decisions."

February 29th, 2008 ? Bernanke: "I expect there will be some failures. I don't anticipate any serious problems of that sort among the large internationally active banks that make up a very substantial part of our banking system."

June 9th, 2008 ? Bernanke: Despite a recent spike in the nation's unemployment rate, the danger that the economy has fallen into a "substantial downturn" appears to have waned

July 16th, 2008 ? Bernanke: (Freddie and Fannie) ??will make it through the storm?, "? in no danger of failing.","?adequately capitalized"

 

[First]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I've been saying this for a while. He was completely blindsided by what many saw coming and has been charged with being a key player with what he completely misunderstood to begin with.

Who saw this coming? Details? Links? Surely they must have made out like bandits the last 2 years.

 

[Stuxnet]

Originally posted by: Evan

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I've been saying this for a while. He was completely blindsided by what many saw coming and has been charged with being a key player with what he completely misunderstood to begin with.

Who saw this coming? Details? Links? Surely they must have made out like bandits the last 2 years.

June 2005

Come on, Evan... you're an economist, yes? Surely you're aware of Schiff's position over the years.

 

[StageLeft]

June 9th, 2008 ? Bernanke: Despite a recent spike in the nation's unemployment rate, the danger that the economy has fallen into a "substantial downturn" appears to have waned

That's the most pitiful of the quotes. And last June, too, when things were already so obviously putting their lips around the barrel.

Who saw this coming? Details? Links? Surely they must have made out like bandits the last 2 years.

Schiff did call this. Unfortunately for him and his investors despite calling the housing bubble he didn't invest the money well and I think even lost some in 2008. So, he knew what was coming in some regard but not how to profit from it. He was obviously very wrong about the decoupling theory.

I do know some people made off like bandits with CDS linked to mortgages.

In regard to who called it, I'd say the stock market called it starting at the end of 2007 when it began to implode, but then literally nine full months later we have Bernanke like a broken record talking about containment still.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: Moonbeam

Originally posted by: Skoorb
I've been saying this for a while. He was completely blindsided by what many saw coming and has been charged with being a key player with what he completely misunderstood to begin with.

If I told you what would happen tomorrow and I was right and then did the same thing the next day and so on, how long do you think it would take before the world turned to me for my predictions?

Depending on how specific it was possibly as little as a day for some people and as long as forever for others.

I think it would be only a short time and I would be commanding massive attention and scaring the shit out of folk if I predict disaster. But if I did that now nobody would pay any attention. So it makes no difference what some people say. There are millions of opinions and because of that some will be right just because of the statistics.

The important point is that it doesn't make the slightest difference what some joker guesses right if he has no credibility with people in power. People listen only to authorities who have the proper record of credibility. These are folk whom smart people think are smart. They can be wrong and some witch doctor casting bird guts may get closer, but nobody will listen. Stop with the bull shit of recommending we go with the shamans for the love of God.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Unfortunately for him and his investors despite calling the housing bubble he didn't invest the money well and I think even lost some in 2008. So, he knew what was coming in some regard but not how to profit from it.

This sentiment was based solely on a blog, which detailed only how his investments did in 2008. Not before 2008, and surely not during 2009.

 

[First]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Schiff did call this. Unfortunately for him and his investors despite calling the housing bubble he didn't invest the money well and I think even lost some in 2008. So, he knew what was coming in some regard but not how to profit from it. He was obviously very wrong about the decoupling theory.

Many, many economists were calling a housing bubble in 05 and 06. This is actually documented in the OP's link; you have Bartiromo on CNBC in July 05 in that video saying "many economists are saying we could be headed toward a housing bubble that could cause a recession at some point". The fact that Schiff was one of them doesn't really mean much especially since, unlike other economists, he wasn't at all specific and didn't predict any collapse in CDS or CDO trading.

The fact that we know Schiff lost money for his clients in 07 and 08 and inaccurately predicted that the dollar would depreciate by 50% between 9/07 and today says it all.

I do know some people made off like bandits with CDS linked to mortgages.

In regard to who called it, I'd say the stock market called it starting at the end of 2007 when it began to implode, but then literally nine full months later we have Bernanke like a broken record talking about containment still.

Bernanke was wrong about the degree of the recession, but he wouldn't (and most definitely shouldn't) tell people in public that the markets are headed for a catastrophic collapse. His job is to talk up markets, not give sobering advice. Otherwise he'd be maligned for causing hysteria and markets are mostly based on feeling and speculation, after all. Unfortunately Bernanke made poorly informed statements about Freddie/Fannie's books (though of course he didn't have the power to peer into them, which is changing).

 

[StageLeft]

Stop with the bull shit of recommending we go with the shamans for the love of God.

How do you know Bernanke isn't a shaman?

His job is to talk up markets, not give sobering advice.

If so, perhaps his job description should change, because regardless of his Baghdad Bob appearance, the economy still has gone to sh*t!

 

[Dari]

When you become an economist of that position, you are no longer just a man, you are an institution. Hence, your objectives changes from telling the truth to calming things down. Basically, he told people what they wanted to hear, that everything is fine. Really can't expect much more from someone like that.

 

[spittledip]

What is the point of being an expert if you get something so important so wrong?

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: spittledip
What is the point of being an expert if you get something so important so wrong?

He's an expert on the Great Depression. I'd say he's the perfect man for the job in this crisis.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: spittledip
What is the point of being an expert if you get something so important so wrong?

Well, I can tell you this. I have said I don't know how many times that the so called wise men are fools, but when I do I get called a nut that pays no attention to my elders.

Would you want somebody like me running the country that flies mostly on instinct and the seat of his pants. I don't think you do.

People invent experts so they can feel secure, I think. The world isn't going to abandon its experts any time soon I am pretty damn sure.

What the real lesson you might learn is that all of these events surprise even the wisest of men. That nobody at all can tell the future. And you waste your lives trying to attribute blame when the things that happen are unfortunate and bother you.

Remember too that the angle of death sits on your shoulder and if you become more aware of him your other problems will gather a different perspective and perhaps recede in their urgency and relevance.