Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gets ready to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on July 22.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gets ready to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on July 22.
How much did you ever know about the personal life of Alan Greenspan?
All of a sudden, ordinary folks care about the Federal Reserve — and the person who runs it. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has been all over the news lately, and not just as a policy wonk. In March, he gave a lengthy interview to 60 Minutes, which included a tour of his hometown. Yesterday, he spent an hour answering questions in a town-hall session in Kansas City. Compare that to Greenspan, who gave only one televised interview in his entire run as Fed Chief.
This seems like simple PR, helping to sell monetary policy to a very skeptical public during turbulent times. But Daniel Indiviglio over at the Atlantic has an interesting take on Bernanke's sudden jump into the spotlight:
I worry that he has an ulterior motive. He may be responding to Congress' efforts, led by Ron Paul, to attempt to bring greater transparency to the Fed. Bernanke may be trying to quell public anger at the Fed's opaque nature so that it can retain secretive tactics and not really have to answer to anyone. He could be attempting to make nice so voters call off their dogs and let the Fed function as it always has.
There could be one other reason for Bernanke's sudden jump into the limelight, Indiviglio writes: his term is nearly up, and it'll be President Obama's choice whether to reappoint him. The Obama Administration has been all about reaching out directly to the public in their PR efforts — Indiviglio says Bernanke could just be going with the team to impress his boss so he can keep his job.
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