Bernanke’s Actions Explained

A clever way to illustrate what Ben Bernanke has done to the country. Thanks to Reader Jaimie for sending this to my attention:

Open Letter to the Chief Confidence Officer of the United States of America

Dear Dr. Bernanke,

My nephew is a bad kid. He’s into drugs, high-risk sex, a steady stream of brushes with the law… But he always manages to avoid prosecution- probably because he is smart and good looking… and he has a rich uncle.

Recently he got into trouble. He was involved in some illegal gambling and had resorted to the Martingale Method – right up until he ran out of money. Just as he lost that last hand, the hall was raided and he was arrested. I had, at one point, told him that if he ever needed help, he should call. But this time was tough for me; I knew that I could throw a bunch of money at the situation and the problem would disappear… the gamblers would go away, the police would go away, there would be no court case pursued. I would basically restore public confidence in this boy by buying his way out of scrutiny. He would then go on to screw up another day… probably in a much bigger way.

The alternative was for me to let him collect his lumps, and watch as he got a taste of where he would end up if uncle was not around to bail him out – or if uncle chose not to bail him out because he was the cause of all his trouble.

I had to decide what the moral thing was for me to do: Shower the situation with money and make it go away? Or let him learn a hard lesson – replete with bruises and a likely criminal record.

From the public’s point of view, the answer was obvious; society would be much better off if I let him take his lumps. He might be scared straight. And a criminal record would constitute a public record – a warning to anyone who took the time to find out about his proclivities.

But personal morality is a different beast. I have a certain loyalty to my dear brother to think about. And I did promise my nephew that if he ever got into trouble, I would be there for him. At the time, I did not include any contingencies in that promise. And it would break my mother’s heart if my nephew went to jail – or if he was beaten up for not paying his debt.

I had to side with my posse, Dr. Bernanke. I bailed out my nephew. I paid off his gambling debt. And I found a lawyer that knows the DA – and the whole problem disappeared. It cost me a few dollars – but my brother is forever grateful… and my mother remains happy and ignorant. The cost to society, on the other hand, is going to be higher; this kid now thinks he’s untouchable. Watch out, world.

On the face of it, your and my decision-making processes seem similar. Faced with a moral question of how best to restore confidence, you too decided not to let your nephew-equivalents take their lumps; you shoveled money, just like I did, to protect those bad apples… to restore confidence in them… to restore confidence in the system.

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