Perry accuses Bernanke of treason, draws rebuke from W spokesman

[Newsjock]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/political-economy/post/perry-takes-aim-at-bernanke/2011/08/15/gIQAXwqIIJ_blog.html?hpid=z1

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, making his maiden campaign swing in Iowa after jumping into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, suggested Monday night that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke would be committing an act of treason by printing more money between now and November 2012.

Responding to a question about the Federal Reserve at a campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Perry said: “If this guy prints more money between now and the election, I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous, or treasonous, in my opinion.”

Perry continued by saying that printing more money would be “devaluing the dollar in your pocket, and we cannot afford that. We have to learn the lessons of the past three years that they’ve been devastating. The president of the United States has conducted an experiment on the American economy for almost three years, and it has gone tragically wrong, and we need to send him a clear message in November 2012 that new leadership is coming.”

Perry’s comments drew a sharp rebuke by some commentators online Monday night. Tony Fratto, a former spokesman for President George W. Bush, tweeted: “Gov. Perry’s comments about Chmn. Bernanke are inappropriate and unpresidential.”

[sakabatou]

1. Wasn't Perry the one saying something about secession from the US

[Firebrand Gary]

2. Yep, Tweety was right. Perry is a "Roman Candle"

He will be gone before we know it.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. We can only hope.

[Guilded Lilly]

4. Keep flapping that jaw, jerk....just keep it up..

I don't know what YA'LL think but everytime this moron blabs about the *black cloud* and how things are done *down in Texas* he proves what a total shithead he is.

(My Texan friends and relatives can't stand him either.)

[Angry Dragon]

5. We just have to keep reminding people that he likes to kill people

[Justitia]

11. ....innocent people.

[TwilightGardener]

6. I feel a spectacular flameout coming on...the Fred Thompson of 2012.

[LiberalFighter]

7. How is Perry qualified to talk about finances when Texas has how much of a defict?

[peacetalksforall]

8. He's right about the inflation - it's coming. How can a Domionist be right on this position?

Things are getting conflicted.

I wish that some version of a Dem leader would talk about inflation and Bernanke.

[Sherman A1]

12. Inflation is already here and has been for

awhile. One need only go to the grocery store to reach that conclusion.

[BzaDem]

13. Because it is absolute nonsense. Inflation is not here, it is not coming, and that is a bad thing.

Deflation is the actual problem our country may potentially face in the near future. Changes in volatile commodity price due to external shocks (like Libya) is not inflation. Inflation is actually quite low (and dangerously low at that). Furthermore, absent external shocks, inflation really cannot increase much at all in this economy, since we have such large excess capacity. (When millions of workers are unemployed and factories are idled, increased demand causes more factories to be put to work generating products at the same price -- not an increase of the price.)

This is actually most unfortunate, because we need moderate inflation (3%-4%). Our biggest problem right now is massive private sector debt (mainly due to housing). Consumers are massively in debt. We are not going to get out of the balance sheet recession until consumers get better balance sheets so they can start spending again, and inflation reduces the real value of that debt.

Ultimately, the Republicans want to keep inflation extremely low to protect extreme wealth concentration at the very top. Most Democrats, on the other hand, think a reasonable, moderate amount of inflation is fine (even if it pisses off extremely wealthy creditors), since that is what is needed to help reduce the private sector debt that is holding our economy back.

[NutmegYankee]

14. Understand your opinion, but you forgot one thing -

Wages are going down. Inflation would just be a Coup De Grace on an already overstressed Working Class.

[MrDiaz]

15. really, no inflation?

That is a very stupid thing to say, prices have been going up, NOT DOWN.

[Selatius]

16. If there's inflation, it's due to high energy prices.

Because it takes fuel to move food from farms to the grocery store, people would see increased prices on the food side as well. Granted, energy prices aren't as high as they were a few weeks ago, but still paying 3.70/gallon is still a heavy drag on consumer spending for quite a lot of people, especially those who are unemployed. The absolute worst thing that could happen is if energy prices start moving up again. You'd actually witness a scenario of stagflation, where prices and unemployment may simultaneously rise. The last time the US saw this was during the Arab Oil Embargo and during the Iranian Revolution. In both cases, energy prices went up, driving up prices of many goods, and this acted as a throttle on the US economy.

[girl gone mad]

18. The volatility in commodities is related to speculative activity..

driven largely by the Fed's QE2 program. There have not been any notable "external shocks".

I don't think the Republicans have a genuine anti-inflation strategy. If they did, they wouldn't be promoting endless tax cuts.

[Gman]

9. He's going to do a Donald Trump if he keeps it up

and take his own self out of it.

[krabigirl]

10. but threatening secession is just fine.

[kentuck]

17. It's all a ploy...

to pretend to distance W from Perry because they think W might be a liability, in my opinion.