A new Gallup poll shows that only 30% of those asked said the Fed was doing an “excellent or good” job. The figure was 53% when Alan Greenspan was chief in 2003. Ben Bernanke, who is “running for re-election as Fed chief, has to find that troubling.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRlAcwC90VA&w=560&h=340&fmt=18]
Bernanke’s real problem may have very little to do with the job that he did. It is likely caused by the fact that the public has never understood what the Federal Reserve does. The responsibilities of the Federal Reserve have always been more difficult to fathom than those of the Defense Department for example. It is hard for most American citizens to comprehend the complex concepts of the setting of interest rates and the regulation of the money supply. The Fed had to change its role during the crisis in order to play a more aggressive part in the financial markets than it had in the past, since there was no other governmental organization that could save large financial companies quickly. This transformation in the Fed’s role, accompanied by an increase in its power, caused many citizens to be more confused about what the Fed was supposed to do.
Executive Producer: Philip MacDonald
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