Add to that list: Congressional hearings. Sure, Congressional hearings aren’t actually making anything, but eventually they lead to laws being made and well, it’s not always pretty.
Been watching Ben Bernake in front of the finance committees the past two days. Despite the fact that I’ve been a swooning fangirl of Alan Greenspan’s for years, the new guy has won me over in his time in the position. He knows his stuff, is very levelheaded and not into fear-mongering.
Overall, the hearings have been fairly tame, a lot of good questions and answers, no raking over the coals and very minimal snarkiness.
However, what is going to make my head explode is how many times I’ve heard reps saying things about “MY district” - do you not understand that the Fed is a regional/national organization? When you’re talking about Fed issues you have to think about the entire region that you are a part of, not just your district. Your district is just a little piece of a bigger thing and you have to remember that - it’s not all about you.
The other question/comment that just killed me was someone talking about “increasing take home pay” in her district… It seemed to be asked in a matter that she expected him to wave a magic wand and everyone would have higher take home pay. In my mind, for higher take home pay, there are two ways to go about it: 1) Make yourself more marketable so you can move up (and Bernake HAS said addressed workforce education as being critical) and/or 2) Find a better employer. Honestly, not sure how the Federal Reserve could directly control it, at least not in the way the representative appeared to think. (Yes, part of their work is employment, but not “*poof*, here’s higher take home pay”)
Best question/comment? From a congressman new to Congress and the committee - just asked (paraphrased to be sure) “Can you give a high level rundown of what the Fed is actually responsible for so that we don’t ask questions about things that you have absolutely no responsibility for?” Kinda think maybe he should have gotten to ask his question first…
