Being thankful for Giethner and Bernanke
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other economists have proclaimed the end of the worst recession since the Great Depression.
Sounds like great news.
The Wall Street Journal says that we should all be deeply thankful this Thanksgiving week to Timothy Geithner, Bernanke and Henry Paulson for the leading roles they played “in steering the nation through the perilous shoals of last year’s financial crisis.”
Come again?
Not only did Paulson, Geithner and Bernanke not see the recession coming in the first place, but they repeatedly told us that as far as they could tell, there was no economic bubble to begin with. Hence virtually nobody prepared for it.
And then once it was clear that the housing bubble had popped and we were in a recession, they kept telling us how the fundamentals of the American economy were strong. Bernanke told us we could expect to see a recovery during the first half of 2008, the second half of 2008, the first half of 2009, the last half of 2009, and now during 2010.
So just how thankful should America be for the great works of these men?
If you had to put it in monetary terms, $9.7 trillion would be about right. $9.7 trillion is the amount that Bloomberg reported (back in February) that the government has committed to solving the financial crisis that it never saw coming—despite copious warning signs.
$9.7 trillion is more than America spent on the First and Second World Wars and the wars in Korea and Vietnam—all put together.
America apparently should also be thankful for the fact that we are now the partial owners of two massively indebted and struggling car manufacturers. In light of the fact that the government is now in the automobile business, the $3 billion it borrowed and spent on the “cash for clunkers” program is probably another investment we should be grateful for.
Taxpayers are also the proud new owners of insurance company aig. You remember aig—the $144 billion black hole that the government keeps using to funnel backdoor money to Goldman Sachs and other big banks.
Then there is Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage twins. We now own them too. We also own the $6.2 trillion debt they came with. They have already cost taxpayers more than $85 billion, and analysts think the money will never be paid back.
How about the plummeting dollar—the unit which our collective wealth as a nation is measured against? The millions of jobs lost since the beginning of the recession? The fact that a record one in nine Americans rely on food stamps? Should we be grateful for these things too?
Yes, Americans have lots to be thankful for—that is true. But contrary to the Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke and friends are not among them. Brad Macdonald’s column today clearly reminds us who we should truly be thankful to this Thanksgiving Day.
