Early Retirement Blog

“Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is, as he put it, the money in this case is in entitlements.”

Thanks to Ryan Grim of the Huffingtonpost for bringing to the attention of the American people, this stunning quote from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, where he is seeking re-confirmation for a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

The “entitlements” Ben Bernanke was referring to are your Social Security and Medicare benefits.   “Entitlements” is just another word, accounting speak, for the retirement benefits the U.S. Government owes you.

When Bernanke was asked by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island if he could think of ways other than spending cuts and tax hikes to reduce deficits, robbing the retirements of the American people was his reply.   Stop Ben Bernanke’s re-confirmation.

I wrote a story titled “How Alan Greenspan Tricked America“, for The Inspired Economist blog, where I satirically explained how Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke robbed the American people.   And, before President Obama was even inaugurated, I wrote about how Obama plans to reduce budget deficits by robbing your Social Security and Medicare benefits.   Yesterday I wrote about how seniors are bailing out Wall Street.

But to so openly and shamelessly quote a bank robber, to say that the retirements and health care of the American people is a bank worthy of robbing, is going too far.   Stop Ben Bernanke’s re-confirmation.

Ben Bernanke, along with his former boss Alan Greenspan, helped create an economic apocalypse.   Ben Bernanke gets credit for preventing the economic collapse he created.   The truth about Ben Bernanke is that he had a year, from the time Bear Stearns got into trouble and started the credit crisis, until Lehman Brothers imploded to prevent the economic collapse – and did nothing.   If this was Rome – Bernanke would be Nero.

Only after the stock market collapsed, only after Americans lost trillions of dollars of their net worth, only after Paulson robbed American taxpayers with his three page ransom note bank bailout, did Bernanke do anything to stop the economic collapse.    Bernanke works for the banks.   Ben Bernanke from the beginning, from before the economic collapse, has profited the banking industry at the expense of the American people.

Off the backs of seniors, suggests Ben Bernanke at his Senate confirmation hearings, can the U.S. Government pay for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, bank bailouts, pork barrell spending, and tax breaks for the rich.   Cut health and retirement benefits to seniors, cut health and retirement benefits for current workers, make retirement an impossible dream for millions of Americans, that is Ben Bernanke’s solution to the U.S. budget deficit.

I guess it is only fitting that Bernanke would quote a bank robber in his Senate testimony, because as the title of William Black’s book of how corporate executives and politicians looted the S&L industry suggests, “The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One.” In Ben Bernanke’s case – the bank robbers own the bank.

It is time to put this bank robber out of business,   Ben Bernanke has been robbing the American people for far too long, call and write your congressperson and tell them not to re-confirm Ben Bernanke for a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Update January 25, 2010:

Ben Bernanke, in the face of populist opposition, has gained significant support for his re-nomination from the Obama administration.   President Obama today said “He has my strongest support. I think he’s done a good job,” Obama told ABC News.

“What we need is somebody at the Federal Reserve who can make sure that the progress that we’ve made in stabilizing the economy continues. I think Bernanke is the best person for that job,” the president said.

Yes, President Obama thinks that Ben Bernanke, the man who torched the U.S. economy and then got overblown credit for dousing the flames, deserves a second term as Federal Reserve Chairman.   A statement that says more about Obama than it does about Bernanke.