Ben Bernanke's confirmation hearing has begun. Blog here about what your hear.
Link to hearing
And just for reference I am in favor of his confirmation.
Many here seem to want to criticize the Fed for the failings of Congress. It wasn't the Fed that repealed Glass-Steagal. It wasn't the Fed that passed CFMA. It wasn't the Fed that made us gluttonous consumers. It wasn't the Fed that ignored globalization. It wasn't the Fed that ran constant budget deficits for essentially the last 40 years. It wasn't the Fed that made us dependent on foreign oil. Congress needs to be held accountable for its massive failures and should not be allowed to scapegoat Ben Bernanke, who inherited a disaster and has done a pretty decent job of preventing the kind of negative feedback loop that would foster a real depression.
UPDATE: Adjournment until 1pm. I will be back here then if anyone wants to follow.