Fed interview

It was interesting to watch and hear last night’s “60 Minutes” interview with Fed chair Ben Bernanke (one year in the making), who – it turns out – grew up as a child in one of the few Jewish (shop-keeping) families in Dillon, North Carolina. This is the man who – along with new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner – the Obama administration and the country are counting on to rescue and reform the financial system and the economy – and, with Defense Secretary Gates and General Petraus – is one of the few holdovers from the Bush Administration. An expert on the 1920s/30s’ Great Depression, he seems very aware that massive government intervention may be needed to stave off a (and also prevent) depression, something his predecessor – Alan Greenspan, favorite of my libertarian friends – as well Clinton Treasury Secretary Bob Rubin – were slow to see.

-- Perry