Ben Bernanke to Speak to Congress Thursday?

Anyone know anything about this? It's not getting any coverage that I can find in the US media.

BBC World Service is reporting that Ben Bernanke is going in front of the US Senate on Thursday to ask for a lot more rules and regulations around what the banks in the USA are able to do.

This would signal a major change in US policy towards banking and is likely to really, really enrage the Republicans, who were able to push through banking deregulation under George W Bush.

It was a really, really brief mention on the World Service news at 9pm PST after another story about the volatility of the markets and commodity prices today. Nothing on the BBC website, CNN, or FOX about this at all.

I would think that the US markets will definitely not react well to the idea of re regulating the banks.

Very interesting. I'd like to hear what he has to say.

Of course, it'll probably just be something else to further someone's crooked agenda.

There's a blurb on www.fednews.com, but you have to be a member to get the whole thing.

Here's what I got:

PREPARED TESTIMONY OF FEDERAL RESERVE BOARD CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE BEFORE THE SENATE BANKING, HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
SUBJECT: "DODD-FRANK IMPLEMENTATION: MONITORING SYSTEMIC RISK AND PROMOTING FINANCIAL STABILITY"

WASHINGTON, D.C. THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011


MR. BERNANKE: Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member Shelby, and other members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify on the Federal Reserve Board's role in monitoring systemic risk and promoting financial stability, both as a member of the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) and under our own authority. ...

And another site: banking.senate.gov...

reply to post by babybunnies

BBC World Service is reporting that Ben Bernanke is going in front of the US Senate on Thursday to ask for a lot more rules and regulations around what the banks in the USA are able to do.

Except it won't happen. No way in hell there's REAL rules and regulations being put on the banks.

Remember the bill last year that passed and supposedly ``reign in`` the banks? Ah yes, the BANKS THEMSELVES WROTE THE BILL... it was a big scam.

If they pass anything, it's gonna be another scam that legalize all the fraud the banks are doing.

And how come the head of the PRIVATE FEDERAL RESERVE has any say in US policy? Isn't it supposed to be one man, one vote? No of course not. If you got more money, you own the government.

reply to post by babybunnies


Well if that is the case, the seriousness of the matter can no longer be ignored and must be addressed.
The sooner the better. I am not exactly beholden to the recent track record of the Central Bank, but I must
say that I am even more disappointed in the attitude, decisions, and threshold of corruption deemed acceptable
by The Congress in the last few decades. This could prove to be a step in the right direction.

Stay Smart... S&F

reply to post by notsofunnyguy


Thanks for the extra info. It's interesting that the Chairman of the Fed is going to speak to the Senate and there isn't even a murmor about it in the US mainstream media.

I agree, re regulating banks probably will never happen as Republicans will vote it down, but I find the lack of coverage in the news intriguing.

WASHINGTON — Ben Bernanke and other regulators are updating Congress about their efforts to carry out the biggest overhaul of the nation’s financial rules since the Great Depression. In prepared testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, Bernanke said the Fed will unveil new regulations this summer that would protect the U.S. economy from another meltdown of the nation’s largest banks and financial companies.

Wash. Post

Here it is, doesn't seem very interesting.
Just him selling his plan.

reply to post by Oaktree

Congress directed the Fed to write the rules when it passed last year’s financial regulatory overhaul. The law aims to prevent another financial crisis like the one in 2008 that plunged the economy deeper into recession.

The rules will require big banks and others, such as Wall Street firms, hedge funds and insurance companies, whose failure could endanger the economy, to be subject to more strict requirements for the amount of capital and cash they must have on hand to cushion against potential losses if another financial crisis were to strike.

You all know that THE BANKS wrote the bill, right?

It's all theatrics for the sheeple.

can any finacial whiz tell me what this means for precious metals?

The markets will react greatly but not negatively but positively as the banks don't benefit when the market tanks. Globally everything is down but odds are not on this news.

The Banks did not write this one as if it was truly up to them there would be no regulation and all forms of regulation would've been targeted and eliminated by now.

Finally a brief story about this, buried on CNN's Money page, while the main story on CNN is about Oil Execs complaining they're gonna lose their tax breaks. whaaaaa.

Bernanke is basically saying that failure to increase the debt ceiling would be a disaster of "lehman brothers proportions".

Of course, who owns most of the debt? The Federal Reserve. It's like your payday loan company telling you "if you don't raise the amount of money you're borrowing from us, we're going to cripple you".

reply to post by Vitchilo


Yes, I know.
When it was first announced that all 50 A.G.'s were opening an investigation, I (foolishly) held out a bit of hope for justice.

As soon as it was announced that the A.G.'s were meeting with bank officials, I realized how silly I was to have had any faith what-so-ever.

Until the day that these crooks (bankers and politicians) actually fear the repercussions of their actions, it will be business as usual.