Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke presided over an economic boom, a recession and a slow recovery.
Will he stay to nurse the economy back to vigorous health? Not likely, say many economists. Two out of three in a USA Today survey predict the nation’s most famous economist will step down when his second four-year term ends next January.
Bernanke, 59, hasn’t revealed his intentions publicly. Nor has President Obama, who would have to renominate him for a third term.
But after he steered the U.S. economy through the worst crisis since the Great Depression, top economists who follow the Fed for a living are betting Bernanke is ready for a change.
“The workload has been extremely high, and the stress level (at the Fed) has been extremely elevated for quite some time,” said Barclays Capital economist Michael Gapen, who headed a Fed monetary policy division from 2008 to 2010.
Bernanke “has the extra burden because ... he is the front man for the institution,” Gapen said.
“He’s been at it a long time, and the pace is just grueling.” USA Today surveyed 46 top economists in early February about their views of the economy and the Fed.
Keeping quiet Speculation about whether Bernanke would seek a third four-year term has swirled since Obama won re-election in November. During the presidential campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney said he would replace Bernanke when his term ends if Romney beat Obama.
At a news conference in December, he was asked if he would stay for a third term if Obama asked him to do so.
“I am very much engaged in these difficult issues that we’re discussing today, and I have not been spending time thinking about my own future,” said Bernanke, a former Princeton economics professor who joined the Fed’s board in 2002.
Could he stay?
Some of the economists surveyed say Bernanke is likely to stay if the president asks him to. With the unemployment rate at 7.9 percent, well above the Fed’s 5 percent to 6 percent target, Allen Sinai, chief economist of Decision Economics, said, “I think he’ll finish the job. This is a guy that’s never failed at anything in his life.”
floridatoday.com
Will he stay to nurse the economy back to vigorous health? Not likely, say many economists. Two out of three in a USA Today survey predict the nation’s most famous economist will step down when his second four-year term ends next January.
Bernanke, 59, hasn’t revealed his intentions publicly. Nor has President Obama, who would have to renominate him for a third term.
But after he steered the U.S. economy through the worst crisis since the Great Depression, top economists who follow the Fed for a living are betting Bernanke is ready for a change.
“The workload has been extremely high, and the stress level (at the Fed) has been extremely elevated for quite some time,” said Barclays Capital economist Michael Gapen, who headed a Fed monetary policy division from 2008 to 2010.
Bernanke “has the extra burden because ... he is the front man for the institution,” Gapen said.
“He’s been at it a long time, and the pace is just grueling.” USA Today surveyed 46 top economists in early February about their views of the economy and the Fed.
Keeping quiet Speculation about whether Bernanke would seek a third four-year term has swirled since Obama won re-election in November. During the presidential campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney said he would replace Bernanke when his term ends if Romney beat Obama.
At a news conference in December, he was asked if he would stay for a third term if Obama asked him to do so.
“I am very much engaged in these difficult issues that we’re discussing today, and I have not been spending time thinking about my own future,” said Bernanke, a former Princeton economics professor who joined the Fed’s board in 2002.
Could he stay?
Some of the economists surveyed say Bernanke is likely to stay if the president asks him to. With the unemployment rate at 7.9 percent, well above the Fed’s 5 percent to 6 percent target, Allen Sinai, chief economist of Decision Economics, said, “I think he’ll finish the job. This is a guy that’s never failed at anything in his life.”
floridatoday.com
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