Bernanke's Rosy Colored Yawn

Fed Chairman, Ben Bernanke, appeared on 60 Minutes yesterday and assured the nation that the Recession should be over at the end of this year. Might his glasses be rose-colored? It appears that his confidence didn't quell the every-man and like Geithner before him, his intelligence and manner, landed like a thud. Of course I wouldn't be myself if I didn't mention the string of spit that stubbornly remained prominent in the closeups. Didn't the CBS cameraman notice this? Bernanke had dry lips and spittle, he needed to lick his lips and then follow-up with some lip balm. I probably should not have watched his mouth so intently but I literally was hanging onto every word he said. I wanted to fully understand the mechanisms of the Fed and its Bailout Programs. Alas, I wound up with more questions than answers.

For instance, the segment stated that the Fed loaned AIG that first $85,000,000,000. I thought that came out of the TARP funds authorized by Congress. So when we say that AIG has already received $160,000,000,000 in bailout funds, does this include the billions that came directly from the Fed? The Federal Reserve is not spending taxpayer $$ so how much is the taxpayer truly on the hook for with respect to AIG? Also, the segment did not make it clear that the Federal Reserve is a semi-private bank, it did not explain how the Federal Reserve raises the capital that it lends, and didn't explain how its authority to print money is regulated and lastly it did not fully eplain whether the Treasury has a say in all of this.

As far as I understood, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve had their own bailout programs separate and distinct from the TARP funds. Why would I expect 60 Minutes to clear that up for me? As it is not common practice for the sitting Fed Chairman to grant interviews, it was a noble act. Unfortunately, we are still going to continue to crash and burn as far as employment, housing unrest and financial stability are concerned. Some time in the next year, the death spiral is supposed to slow and then we will be on to the next task at hand, the hard road of recovery.