The New Head of the Big Bad Fed

Meet Ben Bernanke, he’s the next head of the Fed.

“A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard University in 1975, he received his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1979. During his years in Boston, he focused on the economic underpinnings of the Great Depression and the losing track record of the city’s beloved baseball team, the Red Sox.

“Economics is a very difficult subject,” Bernanke once said. “I’ve compared it to trying to learn how to repair a car when the engine is running.”

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid issued a statement signaling the type of questions Bernanke might expect at his confirmation hearings.

“I look forward to the confirmation hearings to learn more about Mr. Bernanke’s views on how the Federal Reserve should steer our economy free from political influence and interference,” he said.”

The president mentioned Bernanke’s speeches – “widely admired for their keen insight and clear, simple language.”

In other words, he doesn’t talk like Greenspan.

While “irrational exuberance” and the housing market’s “signs of froth” were Greenspan’s calling cards – language that left economists and the public parsing his words – Bernanke favors plain terminology.