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From LaTimes:

 Ben S. Bernanke may need to arrange a lot more meet-and-greet opportunities with the public: The Federal Reserve comes in dead last in a new poll of Americans’  perceptions of how good a job nine government agencies are doing.

The Gallup Poll found that just 30% of respondents rated the Fed’s performance either “good” or “excellent.” Thirty-five percent rated the central bank’s performance “only fair” and 22% gave the Fed a “poor” rating. (The rest, 13%, were honest enough to say they had no opinion.)

The eight other U.S. agencies tracked by the poll all received higher combined good/excellent ratings than the Fed. No. 1 on the list: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which 61% of respondents said was doing a good or excellent job.

 The Fed even was outranked by Homeland Security, which got a 46% good/excellent rating, and by the IRS, at 40%.

From Yahoo:

Public opposition to the auto bailouts may translating into consumer buying decisions, with 46% of Americans now saying they are more likely to buy a car from Ford because it did not take government money to stay in business.

… 

At the same time, nearly one-out-of-five Americans (19%) say someone in their family or a friend has chosen not to buy a car from GM or Chrysler because they took bailout money. Fifty-six percent (56%) say family or friends have not steered clear of GM or Chrysler for this reason, but 26% are not sure.

Most Americans (53%) continue to believe that it is at least somewhat likely that the government, now that it has substantial ownership stakes in GM and Chrysler, will pass laws and regulations giving those two automakers an unfair advantage over Ford. Thirty percent (30%) say it’s very likely. This suspicion has lessened slightly since May.

However, one-out-of-three investors (33%) say it is very likely that the government will give an unfair advantage to the bailed-out automakers.

GM’s recent emergence from bankruptcy with government help seems to have done little to change Americans’ minds. Only 17% say they are more likely to buy a GM car now that the company is out of bankruptcy, while 22% say they are less likely to do so. Fifty-nine percent (59%) say the end of GM’s bankruptcy has no impact on their buying decisions.

Just 13% of Americans say someone in their family or one of their friends has bought a car from Ford recently because it did not take a government bailout. For 73%, that’s not the case, and 14% aren’t sure.

…

In June, only 42% of those who currently own a GM car said they were even somewhat likely to buy a GM product for their next car.

Forty-one percent (41%) of Americans expect the quality of GM cars to get worse now that the federal government is the company’s majority owner. Just 19% believe the quality of GM cars will improve.

From The Idaho Statesman:

Here’s an ugly ranking for Idaho.

The state tied for No. 4 among the nation’s most economically distressed states, according to statehealthfacts.org, an offshoot of the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

The study focused on three distress signs:

• Foreclosure rates- With one of every 437 housing units in foreclosures in May, Idaho ranked No. 9 in the nation.

• Unemployment rates- The Idaho jobless rate increased by 3.7 percentage points, ranking No. 21 nationally.

• Food stamps- Food stamp participation increased by 36.3 percent from April 2008 to April 2009, ranking No. 3 nationally.

Idaho tied with California for the dubious No. 4 distress ranking. The top three states, in order, were Nevada, Florida and Oregon.

Remember- the Federal Reserve system caused this economic crises! Call your Representatives, tell them to support HR1207 and S604, the Audit The Fed bills!

In an effort to re-secure another six-year term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve and ward off efforts to open the books of the Central Bank to Congressional oversight, Mr. Bernanke has spent a great deal of time over the last two month’s meeting with and discussing the role that the Fed has in United States monetary policy.

Tonight Mr. Bernanke has agreed to do a sit-down Town Hall with a hand-selected PBS audience. The crowd, per the Wall Street Journal, was well-crafted:

The room for the taping will have 190 people, 40 of whom will have the opportunity to ask questions. They were selected by The NewsHour, local PBS affiliate KCPT and ConsensusKC, a community organization that helps select diverse audiences for events. A list of participants includes people from local chambers of commerce, unions, Kansas and Missouri universities and numerous nonprofit groups.

Additionally, it is noted:

Discussions to do the forum began in March after the “60 Minutes” program featuring Mr. Bernanke, said Robert Flynn, a spokesman for The NewsHour. Why Kansas City? “We wanted to be somewhere in the middle of the country, away from the coasts and away from Washington,” he said. The only two cities under serious consideration were Kansas City and St. Louis, and The NewsHour wanted to use a Federal Reserve bank given security considerations.

Mr. Bernanke re-affirmed implicitly that the Federal Reserve is in fact a private central bank whose charter is the regulate the Nations monetary supply in monopoly status:

Jim Lehrer, after explaining the mechanics of the event to the audience, opened the taped part of the program by calling on Gwen Bailey, a social worker with the Visiting Nurse Association.

Her question: “Exactly what is the Federal Reserve? I don’t have a clue what they do, how they impact our lives” and how it makes decisions.

Mr. Bernanke got the opportunity to explain not just financial stability, monetary policy and bank supervision, but that the Fed is responsible (through consumer protection) for the structure of disclosures on credit-card statements.

The explanation led Mr. Lehrer to ask for a definition of an “independent” central bank. “There’s a lot of evidence that when politicians make monetary policy, you don’t have a good result,” Mr. Bernanke said. It’ll lead to inflation, he says. “We’re very very sensitive to this issue,” he says.

Asked about the Fed being referred to as the fourth branch of government, Mr. Bernanke says “that’s a tremendous exaggeration.” He says he’s accountable to Congress and is subject to the appointments process by lawmakers. “Our independence has to be won everyday.”

Mr. Bernanke also implicitly confirmed fears from Austrian Economists that the drastic increase in the monetary supply could lead to inflation down the road and that the Stimulus package will do nothing to create “shovel-ready” jobs:

Bob Litan, a well-known economist at the Kauffman Foundation, asks about employment growth falling short with slow GDP growth. Bernanke says “economic forecasting makes weather forecasting look like physics.”

He sees the unemployment rate peaking in 2010, with 1% annualized growth in the second half of this year. Even when the economy begins growing again, he says “it’ll be a while before the job market gets back to where we want it to be.”

Responding to a question about inflation, Mr. Bernanke says inflation will be “quite low” for the next couple of years given slack from “the softness in the global economy.” But he says once the economy is growing again, he says it’ll be “very important” to unwind the money the Fed has put into the system.

The importance of these frank discussions however will be missed due to the allusion of journalistic objectivism.

This audience was not impartial, nor was the setting, a branch office of the Fed, intended to be. The questions that Mr. Bernanke faced were not, “from the man on the street”, but rather from specific interest  groups who have a strong desire to keep the current regulatory system in place. The questions were admittedly pre-screened and security considerations tight to avoid the suggestion of any alternative system to the Federal Reserve.

This tour is an allusion, designed by community organizers to craft a specific result: public backing for expanded regulatory powers for the private, central Federal Reserve bank. Fortunately we have Ron Paul’s HR1207 and the efforts of the Campaign For Liberty to fight off this well designed public-relations campaign.

Will we open the books and examine the evidence that this central bank has created the boom and bust cycle that has largely served as a control mechanism by government since 1913? Will we expand the powers of the Federal Reserve to every institution that presents a “systemic risk” to the financial system, even though the Fed has never been audited? We will pass HR1207, which has the support of 64% of the House, and S604, which has 18% support in the Senate, and Audit The Federal Reserve? 

Audacity it seems, is owned by fiat.

He voted against the Stimulus plan. He co-sponsored HR1207. He has opposed the banker/auto bailouts. He opposed Cap and Trade. And now….

 From KTVB:

Idaho’s two U.S. House members are joining the opposition forming against legislation designed to reform the nation’s health care system.

Rep. Mike Simpson, a Republican, is vowing to vote against the bill supported by President Obama and many congressional Democrats.

While Simpson agrees changes to the health care system are needed, he says the bill awaiting debate would raise taxes, cost too much and not do enough to fix the problems.

Democratic Rep. Walt Minnick says the bill is flawed, fails to guarantee affordable health insurance for all Americans and calls for too big of a role for government.

Still, Minnick says he is hopeful that he can support a final version of the bill that is more fiscally sound and has broader, bipartisan support.

I will withhold my firm judgement in hopes that the “more fiscally sound, broader and bipartisan” health care bill” never emergres from the cespool of Congress.

Mr. Bernanke goes to Washington. From La Times:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today began the tough sales job on Capitol Hill for the Obama administration’s sweeping overhaul of financial regulations, facing sharp criticism at a Senate hearing for one key proposal — increasing the power of the Federal Reserve to regulate large institutions whose failure would pose a significant risk to the economy.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) and the committee’s top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, both told Geithner they did not like the Fed idea, reflecting bipartisan concerns about the central bank’s failure to identify the looming financial crisis and the deep recession.

Key lawmakers are also concerned that giving the Fed more of a direct regulatory role could impede its independence, which they said is crucial to keeping politics out of its responsibility for setting monetary policy.

The questions about the Fed’s role also highlighted the challenges President Obama faces in getting his regulatory overhaul passed into law. The plan, the most comprehensive since the Great Depression, would institute tough, new requirements on large companies who could damage the economy if they fail, add oversight of complex financial derivatives, attempt to rein in executive compensation and create a new agency to oversee consumer financial products.

Most of the key provisions require congressional approval. Geithner is expected to face a similar reception when he testifies before the House Financial Services Committee later today.

Dodd said he had an open mind about whether the Fed should take on the new role, which is one of the major and most controversial components of the Obama administration’s plan. But then he referred to numerous criticisms of the Fed, citing one expert who said giving the agency more power over the financial system was like a parent giving a teenager a faster car after he crashed another one.

Shelby, who has been a strong critic of expanding the role of the Federal Reserve, cited the agency’s independent structure and worried that Congress would not be able to hold it accountable for its new power. He also said the Fed’s performance leading up to the current crisis did not merit additional responsibility. The Fed already is responsible for monetary policy as well as handling some bank supervision and consumer protection roles in the financial system.

Responding to Geithner’s assertion that the Fed was the one government agency that had the expertise to handle the role, Shelby said, “I personally believe this represents a grossly inflated view of the Fed’s expertise.”

Geithner defended the administration’s plan at the Senate Banking Committee hearing, particularly the new role for the Fed, even as he sought to downplay it.

“Our plan is to give it a carefully designed, modest amount of additional authority and clear accountability for the Fed to carry out that mission,” Geithner said. “But we also take some important authority and responsibilities away from the Federal Reserve.”

Most notably, Geithner said the Federal Reserve would lose its authority to write consumer protection rules for consumer financial products such as credit cards and to enforce those rules. Those powers would rest in a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency - itself a controversial proposal, particularly among business groups and some Republicans.

Even senators who largely praised the administration’s overall regulatory plan, such as Dodd and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), criticized the Fed for failing in its consumer protection responsibilities.

But Schumer said he tentatively was supportive of giving the Fed its expanded role to monitor the entire economic system.

“I’m not certain, but I tend to agree that the Fed is the best answer,” he said. “There are no great ones.”

The Obama administration’s regulatory overhaul also creates a new Financial Services Oversight Council to identify emerging risks to the economy. The council would be headed by Geithner and include the Federal Reserve chairman and other financial regulators. Some senators said the council might be better suited than the Fed to supervise and regulate large institutions.

But Geithner said the council would not be as accountable as a single agency and would not be able to act as quickly in a crisis.

“You cannot convene a committee to put out a fire,” he said. “The Federal Reserve is the best positioned to play that role.”

This, as being reported by the Idaho Statesman, would be great news. ‘The Hokies have won 10 or more games in eight of the last ten seasons”. We will also be playing Oregon State at home in 2010.