Ben Bernanke is the chairman of the Federal Reserve. This prestigious position stretches beyond the borders of America, affecting market conditions and monetary policy all over the world. Ben Bernanke assumed office in February 2006 after being appointed by President Bush. He began his second term in office in 2010, following a nomination from President Barack Obama.

Author

Bernanke has written several textbooks on microeconomics and macroeconomics and is currently one of the 50 most published economists worldwide. Bernanke’s focus is the political causes of the Great Depression, on which he has published a number of widely acclaimed academic articles.

Reform

Bernanke is in favor of reducing America’s budget deficit, concentrating on reform of Medicare and Social Security entitlement programs. He strongly believes there is a large risk the country will have neither healthy economic growth nor financial stability unless changes are made. Bernanke believes the answer lies in raising taxes and reducing government spending.

Controversies

Bernanke has long been the subject of intense criticism, especially concerning the financial crisis of the late-2000s. His failure to predict the financial crisis and the fact he chose to bail out Wall Street have seen him come under-fire from his critics. More recent times have seen Bernanke inject an estimated 600 billion dollars into the banking system, in the hope of speeding up what has been a painfully slow recovery. This move has earned Bernanke more critics than supporters, with many people questioning his decision-making.

United States Federal Reserve

Bernanke, as part of his role as Chairman, sits on the Financial Stability Oversight board, which also oversees the Troubled Asset Relief Program. During his first few months as Chairman he suffered many communication problems with the media. Bernanke wanted to be as transparent and honest as possible when it came to the subject of inflation rates. However, each time he made a speech about inflation the stock market dipped so dramatically he had to change the way he addressed the issue, and the media.

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