P-D:
Bernanke’s PR campaign makes stop in KC
KANSAS CITY — Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, is on a publicity campaign with a message: The central bank is here to help, and it is not as mysterious or menacing as people might think.
In a profound departure from the central bank’s tradition as an aloof and secretive temple of economic policy, Bernanke has plunged into the public spotlight to an extent that none of his predecessors would have contemplated.
He has given a television interview to “60 Minutes” on CBS, including a tour of his hometown of Dillon, S.C.; has held what amounted to a televised news conference; and has written newspaper commentaries to explain the Fed’s efforts to fight the financial crisis.
On Sunday, Bernanke reached another milestone in his evolution from Fed chairman to Fed showman, participating in a one-hour “town hall” meeting in Kansas City organized and moderated by Jim Lehrer of “The NewsHour” on PBS. It will air this week in three installments on PBS’ “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”
I think all this is in response to the growing number of House members that want the Fed audited, and to Ron Paul handing him his ass several months ago in the House Banking Committee.
A friend of mine back in St. Louis gave me as a present for my 18th birthday, a long long time ago, and getting longer ago by the day, a video of a 1978 debate between a monetary realist and Fed critic Merrill Jenkins, and the then-President of the St. Louis office of the Federal Reserve, whose name escapes me at the moment. The debate took place on a Betsey Bruce co-hosted weekend morning local gab show in Channel 4, KMOX as it was known back then. And it was hilarious to watch — every time Jenkins spoke, the St. Louis Fed President tightened his hand grip of the TV studio chair in which he was sitting, and his face got real red, and his mouth and eyes got an insipid look, looking at Jenkins all the while. When it was his turn to speak, the air went out of him like a punctured balloon.
Methinks some people associated with a certain bank just don’t like criticism.
