Nathan Scandella (personal)

Letter to Washington State Senators

Dear Senators Cantwell and Murray,

I am writing in regard to the upcoming reconfirmation vote for Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Despite the fact that Ben Bernanke has presided over the largest systemic failure our financial system has endured during most of our lifetimes, it appears that the Senate is willing to continue to endorse his chairmanship.

This is appalling. A quick scan of history shows that Bernanke has been both an accomplice, and architect, of the deregulation, reckless over-leverage, and morally reprehensible rewarding of unsound practices in the financial services industry. Furthermore, his comments over his first term as Fed Chair show that his ability to either foresee problems in his industry, or communicate them honestly to the American public (or both) are both woefully lacking. How can you, or anyone, trust him now? Are a few short months of stock market rebound, engineered by the Fed's secretive liquidity injections to banks (unwilling to use the money for loans) enough to make you forget about the previous crisis?

In a time where the only thing liberals and conservatives seem to be able to agree on is the need for more transparency in our government, Bernanke revels in his refusal to cooperate with any oversight. This is plainly unacceptable. There is no justification for using secrecy to disguise moral hazard. The Constitution granted the Congress the right to be involved in the monetary policies of this country, and if you don't choose to use that right, then you're failing constituents like me, who voted for you.

Do not be beholden to fear-mongering about the Fed's secret machinations. Will the stock market hiccup if you take a stand against current Fed actions? Probably. Will we recover, and prosper again once we've purged our financial system of crony capitalism, fraud, and recklessness? Absolutely.

If you cannot vote to end Ben Bernanke's term at the Fed, you are rewarding his failures, and ensuring the country's long term economic servitude to politically-connected banks. That's not what voters put Democrats back in power to do, and I'll have no qualms about voting you back out of office if you can't stand up against Bernanke, and the Fed here.

Sincerely,
Nathan Scandella
Seattle, WA

Posted at 10:12PM Dec 02, 2009 by Nathan in Politics  |  Comments[0]