As I make clear in my recent interview with Tom Woods, I think that Bernanke painted himself (and the US economy) into a corner, then handed the paintbrush over to Janet Yellen.
In case I sound “paranoid,” let’s review our history:
==> Paul Volcker took over as Chair of the Fed in August 1979. A recession officially began five months later, in January 1980. The second “early 1980s” recession officially began in July 1981; the annual unemployment rate was 9.7% in 1982. This was the worst recession since the Great Depression.
==> In August 1987 Alan Greenspan took over the Fed. Two months later “Black Monday” occurred on October 19, 1987, when the Dow dropped 22.6% that day alone–the worst one-day crash in history.
==> In February 2006 Ben Bernanke became Fed chair. The worst recession since the Great Depression officially began in December 2007, and you may recall there was some trouble in the financial markets in September 2008…
==> In January 2014 Janet Yellen became Fed chair. The US stock market crashed and slipped back into major recession on _____?