Yet again, the long-suffering public is subjected to what passes for a leader during the crisis engaging in image-burnishing, in this case, Bernanke via an interview with the Financial Times: Ben Bernanke attacks Congress for failing to foster US rebound.
The former Fed chairman is getting a round of media hype attention due to the publication of his memoirs. It may seem like a myth from ancient times, but it really was not all that long ago that “public service” really did mean putting the needs of the citizenry as a whole first. And that included having enough of a sense of respect for one’s former office so that one didn’t go ringing the cash register and engaging in personal brand enhancement, or at least not visibly and not all that close to one’s departure.
And if Bernanke really is incapable of resisting the lure of a big payday, can’t he just take his filthy lucre from hedge fund Citadel and keep the rest of us out of it?