Ben Bernanke
Ben Bernanke is a hot news topic, thanks to Time Magazine naming him the Person of the Year for 2009. The Senate Banking Committee also recently voted in favor of Bernanke serving a second term as the Federal Reserve Chairman. On to the things you should know before you start chatting it up this weekend.
The Federal Reserve Chairman is one of the seven members of the Board of Governors appointed by the President. The Chairman heads the group who decides on “regulatory and supervisory responsibilities over banks.”1 Things like margin requirements, the Truth in Lending Act, and reserve requirements also fall under the responsibility of the Board.
The Chairman is the one who testifies before Congress and meets with the Treasury, which explains why you’ve seen a lot more of Bernanke (and his predecessor Alan Greenspan) than the other six Board members.
Ben Bernanke began serving as Chairman in February, 2006, but he had plenty of experience with the Federal Reserve System already, serving as a Board member since 2002 among other roles. Previously, Bernanke was an Economics professor at Princeton and Stanford and also had stints at NYU and MIT. He graduated from Harvard and received his Ph.D. from MIT, so regardless of your opinion on his performance as Chairman, it’s hard to argue his qualifications.
Read on:
Time.com – Person of the Year 2009
FederalReserve.gov – Ben S. Bernanke
WSJ.com – Senate Panel Backs 2nd Bernanke Term
Wikipedia – Chair of the Federal Reserve
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