Ben Bernanke’s hypocrisy was on full display

Ben Bernanke’s hypocrisy was on full display on Friday as he chided Congress over a variety of fiscal policy matters.

“I only ask … as Congress looks at the timing and composition of its changes to the budget, that it does take into account that in the very near term the recovery is still rather fragile, and that sharp and excessive cuts in the very short term would be potentially damaging to that recovery.”

The Fed Chairman, who has on numerous occasions told Congress not to interfere in monetary policy, “warned Congress on excessive budget deficits, warned Congress on reducing deficits too quickly, and warned Congress about not hiking the debt ceiling,” according to Mike “Mish” Shedlock, author of Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis.

Mish – a long-time critic of the Federal Reserve and Bernanke in particular – went on to say that “After bitching and moaning on numerous occasions about Congress interfering in monetary policy, Bernanke repeatedly plunges headlong into fiscal policy, hoping to place the blame for the next collapse on anyone other than the Fed.”

While Congress clearly deserves its fair share of the blame for the United States’ economic problems, so does the Federal Reserve. The fact that the most fervent supporter of money printing in the history of mankind is lecturing others on fiscal responsibility illustrates the severity of Bernanke’s hypocrisy and ego.

He is just another can-kicking advocate who refuses to acknowledge the structural problems in the economy, which are rooted heavily in the Federal Reserve’s ability to create money out of thin air.