Big Ben

Bernanke's a great choice for Fed chairman, but is he tough enough on inflation?
By Daniel Gross
Posted Monday, Oct. 24, 2005, at 3:05 PM PT

At last, President Bush has found somebody in the White House who is truly qualified for a senior non-White House appointment. Today, he named Benjamin Bernanke, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, to replace Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Economists, usually a back-biting bunch, are nearly universal in their praise for Bernanke. The stock market is pleased, as the key indices are up on the day. The Senate, which has to confirm Bernanke, is enthusiastic as well, with Democratic (Paul Sarbanes) and Republican (Robert Bennett) members of the Senate Banking Committee appearing on CNBC to support the nomination. The punters at Intrade, who had Bernanke as the odds-on favorite, are also surely satisfied: Hey, the guy's middle name is "peace." Literally. Bernanke is an excellent economist with excellent credentials. He's a highly respected scholar who also writes books that are accessible to laypeople. (See his Essays on the Great Depression.) And he's also been blessed with excellent timing. After all, the last few years have not been kind to Republican-leaning academic economists interested in government service. Working in the Bush administration meant selling a set of dishonest fiscal policies, crafting public policies that were anathema to their beliefs (from steel tariffs to the Medicare prescription-drug plan), and occasionally having to disavow their own writings.