Paul Krugman: Bernanke’s Perry Problem

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http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/opinion/bernankes-perry-problem.html?_r=1&smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto

As I write this, investors around the world are anxiously awaiting Ben Bernanke’s speech at the annual Fed gathering at Jackson Hole, Wyo. They want to know whether Mr. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, will unveil new policies that might lift the U.S. economy out of what is looking more and more like a quasi-permanent state of depressed demand and high unemployment.

But I’ll be shocked if Mr. Bernanke proposes anything significant — that is, anything likely to make any serious dent in unemployment or offer any serious boost to growth.

Why don’t I expect much from Mr. Bernanke? In two words: Rick Perry.

O.K., I don’t mean that Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, is personally standing in the way of effective monetary policy. Not yet, anyway. Instead, I’m using Mr. Perry — who has famously threatened Mr. Bernanke with dire personal consequences if he pursues expansionary monetary policy before the 2012 election — as a symbol of the political intimidation that is killing our last remaining hope for economic recovery.

[panader0]

1. Jackson Hole?

Lucky fucks. I think they might have chosen a site less luxurious.

[SusanaMontana41]

2. They don't care. They're not hurting. n/t

[banned from Kos]

3. Krugman is right on target - we need more monetary stimulus (QE)

Unfortunately its just not a Rick Perry/Teabagger problem. Many on the left buy into nonsense that the Fed's QE is a "bailout for banks". And Taibbi is chirping this crap now too. He is hanging out too much with the ZeroHedge idiots.