Ben Bernanke begins the formal process tomorrow for confirmation to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, but 41% of Americans think President Obama should name someone new to the post.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that only 21% of adults believe the President should reappoint Bernanke to another four-year term. But a sizable 39% aren’t sure what the president should do.
Fitting then, that Senator Jim DeMint, the main sponsor of S.604, would place a hold on the re-appointment of Chairman Ben Bernanke until a simple up-or-down floor vote on the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act takes place.
From Senator DeMint’s office:
“Mr. Bernanke has been one of the chief proponents of the Fed’s easy money policy that created the current financial crisis. He ignored asset bubbles, dismissed concerns about the weakness of the dollar, and helped encourage the credit mania that led to the financial panic. Even worse, Mr. Bernanke has refused to accept any responsibility for his role in these actions prior to financial crisis.
On July 6, 2009, Senator DeMint attempted to get a vote on S. 604, which would remove restrictions on auditing the Fed’s discount window operations, funding facilities, open market operations and agreements with foreign central banks and governments. The vote was blocked but Senator pledged to keep fighting to force the Senate to vote on the measure.
“I will also object to floor consideration of Mr. Bernanke’s nomination until the Senate votes up-or-down on the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act. This bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has over thirty cosponsors and would allow the Government Accountability Office to conduct a full audit of the Federal Reserve. Americans deserve to know how their money is being managed so these mistakes never happen again.
And now, my dear readers, we have a war. Let us not tire, falter or fail in our efforts to End The Fed. We know they will use their abilities to craft monetary policy to make this bill appear as a threat; we must stand ready to educate and reach out. The real enemy is not Bernanke, but the Creature From Jekyll Island that has brought us wars, centralized government planning, inflationary monetary polity and the destructive boom-and-bust cycle that interferes with the free market.