Bernanke on 60 Minutes - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

kerry · #1 03-15-2009, 08:16 PM

I'm watching him right now. To me he seems hesitant and unconvincing in his responses. Anyone else reading him the same way? Too many 'I believe. . .', 'I think so . . .', 'I hope. . .'

tankdriver · #2 03-15-2009, 08:19 PM

dam. Forgot to watch.

Hatterasguy · #3 03-15-2009, 08:40 PM

Not impressed.

Not exactly the piller of confidence we need right now.

LaRondo · #4 03-15-2009, 10:44 PM

There is a reason why they call him 'Helicopter Ben' ...

Here is a brief flashback, August 2007 ( Yeah, nobody saw it coming ...)

Helicopter Ben Unleashes Dollar Hyperinflation

cmac2012 · #5 03-15-2009, 11:46 PM

I just finished with a client, I'm online at his house. I have it on tape at home. Will be watching it soon.

60 Minutes last week was excellent IMO. Had a great piece on the reliability of eye witness IDing of criminals. One lady had identified her rapist from photos and then in a lineup. The guy went to prison, happened to see a guy who looked a lot like the perp sketch; later on the guy told a celly that he had done the rape. Later the woman saw the guy (the real rapist) in court and still thought it was the first guy. DNA set it straight finally, it was the second guy:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/06/60minutes/main4848039.shtml

Sorry, a bit of topic (a large bit) but 60 Minutes is a worthwhile institution, IMO.

Chas H · #6 03-15-2009, 11:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cmac2012

Sorry, a bit of topic (a large bit) but 60 Minutes is a worthwhile institution, IMO.

I quit watching 60 minutes after the hatchet job they did on Audi and unintended acceleration.

suginami · #7 03-16-2009, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LaRondo

There is a reason why they call him 'Helicopter Ben' ...

Here is a brief flashback, August 2007 ( Yeah, nobody saw it coming ...)

Helicopter Ben Unleashes Dollar Hyperinflation

I thought they called him Obi-Wan Ben Bernanke...

Dee8go · #8 03-16-2009, 09:31 AM

Yeah, the truth sometimes gets a little distorted in the attempt to get ratings.

Txjake · #9 03-17-2009, 03:08 PM

wasn't 60 Minutes the show that was caught exploding side tank GM pickups to show how dangerous they were when they could not duplicate the supposed gas tank fires and explosions? They dont have a lot of credibility. I watched a bit of Bernake, not that impressed, thought he was mostly doing damage control regarding Obama's hosing of market confidence....

Honus · #10 03-18-2009, 04:38 PM

For what it's worth, I just ran into a financial advisor friend who said that everybody who hasn't seen Bernanke's appearance on 60 Minutes needs to find it on-line and watch it. He came away from watching the interview convinced that Bernanke is the right man for the job. My friend is a total economics/finance junky. Very knowledgeable and successful at what he does. I think he tends to the Republican side of things but has been voting for some moderate Democrats in recent years.

kerry · #11 03-19-2009, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dculkin

For what it's worth, I just ran into a financial advisor friend who said that everybody who hasn't seen Bernanke's appearance on 60 Minutes needs to find it on-line and watch it. He came away from watching the interview convinced that Bernanke is the right man for the job. My friend is a total economics/finance junky. Very knowledgeable and successful at what he does. I think he tends to the Republican side of things but has been voting for some moderate Democrats in recent years.

Did your friend elaborate on why? I heard on the news tonight that Bernanke knew about the AIG bonuses prior to them being awarded and did not stop them.

Honus · #12 03-19-2009, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerry

Did your friend elaborate on why?

Not really, and I probably wouldn't have understood his reasons anyway. He said that he found Bernanke to be remarkably open and transparent, which is unusual for a sitting Fed Chairman.

Quote:

I heard on the news tonight that Bernanke knew about the AIG bonuses prior to them being awarded and did not stop them.

The AIG bonus issue is a political issue. While $165 million is nothing to sneeze at, I don't think it affects the Federal Reserve. I don't know why Bernanke should have done anything about them.

kerry · #13 03-19-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dculkin

Not really, and I probably wouldn't have understood his reasons anyway. He said that he found Bernanke to be remarkably open and transparent, which is unusual for a sitting Fed Chairman.The AIG bonus issue is a political issue. While $165 million is nothing to sneeze at, I don't think it affects the Federal Reserve. I don't know why Bernanke should have done anything about them.

It's true about his openness and transparency.
I think the Federal Reserve should have done something because they were the ones giving AIG the bailout money as I understand it. If they're giving taxpayer money to a company that failed they certainly should be aware of the fact that it's a stupid policy to reward the people who caused it to fail with million dollar bonuses. Even if they were under contractual obligations to pay those bonuses, it would have been better public policy to deny them and have the potential recipients sue them in court to get them rather than just hand them out. How many of those executives would have had the balls to go to court to try to get their bonuses?

link · #14 03-19-2009, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kerry

I'm watching him right now. To me he seems hesitant and unconvincing in his responses. Anyone else reading him the same way? Too many 'I believe. . .', 'I think so . . .', 'I hope. . .'

I didn’t see the show but how could any reasonable person have true confidence in any bail out plan? There are countless variables which can’t be convincingly modeled. Even using the depression of the 30s as a model is seriously specious exercise. The only real commonality between the 30s and now are the failures that result from extending credit beyond a practical risk. Other than that we have two vastly separate cultures whose only commonality is they were both called the USA.

kerry · #15 03-19-2009, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by link

I didn’t see the show but how could any reasonable person have true confidence in any bail out plan? There are countless variables which can’t be convincingly modeled. Even using the depression of the 30s as a model is seriously specious exercise. The only real commonality between the 30s and now are the failures that result from extending credit beyond a practical risk. Other than that we have two vastly separate cultures whose only commonality is they were both called the USA.

I agree that there is no certainty that any given course of action will produce the desired result, so a good dose of skepticism is appropriate. On the other hand, we are a predatory species that looks for weakness and fear in our prey, so we're sensitive to the lack of confidence in a proposed solution. I thought Bernanke looked fearful at a time when he should have looked strong.