Oh that Ben Bernanke, he sure does make us laugh! Today the chairman of the Federal Reserve spoke to the Economic Club of Washington. At the end of his speech he was asked what he likes best about being Fed chairman.

His reply? “I get to go through the security lines at the airport much more quickly, and I can take along even three ounces of fluid if I want to.”

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, man, ha ha ha ha ha. Ben’s a funny dude.

Of course he can make jokes. When you live a life as charmed as Bernanke’s, the world must seem like your own personal comedy club. Few men on the planet have failed as miserably and still kept their jobs. And, as noted here previously, Bernanke’s not only kept his job, but will undoubtedly have the support of at least 60 senators when they vote soon to give him another four years running the Fed.

Today’s stupid joke is still the funniest thing Bernanke’s done in the past four years, with the highlight of his reign being when he shoveled untold billions in taxpayer money to AIG to help them pay off insurance claims at 100 cents on the dollar, even though he had AIG over a barrell and could have forced them to take far less.

But that’s just the best worst thing our Fed chairman has done over the past four years. As noted previously on Shorts & Pants, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is trying, in vain, to derail Bernanke’s confirmation to another four-year term as Fed chairman. As part of his effort, Sanders details on his website how Bernanke’s also been repeatedly wrong on the economy, wrong on the housing market, failed to warn us about the financial crisis until it was too late, and supported the deregulation of derivatives.

In November 2005 Bernanke said “derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.” Ha ha, yes! And use them properly they did, to induce a world-wide economic depression. That must have been some incentive!

In July 2008 he said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are “adequately capitalized” and “in no danger of failing.” A short while later Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac received a $200 billion bailout and were taken over by the federal government. Whoops!

In May he told the Senate Joint Economic Committee “currently, we don’t think [the unemployment rate] will get to 10 percent.” Unemployment breached the 10% mark last month.

And these are just the highlights of Bernanke’s comedy stylings. Unfortunately, the only media backing up Sanders’ fight against Bernanke’s confirmation is the communist Huffington Post and the odd blogger or two. So once again the joke’s on us — Bernanke will sail through the confirmation process and we’ll endure four more years of his painfully unfunny policies.

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