Reich's Take on Bernanke Remarks

While Robert Reich also notes a change in tone in Bernanke's remarks to Congress yesterday, asking if he has suddenly become a budget hawk, his take is quite different from mine.

For Reich, its about providing some spin for the White House. So his take on this?

Begin with the fact that Bernanke is working more closely with the Treasury any Fed chair since the Second World War. It's doubtful that Bernanke would make a statement like this without it being at least tacitly approved by the White House. Second, Bernanke and the Treasury know that investors are getting antsy about inflation down the road; yields on long-term bonds are increasing. Third, the White House is having trouble getting Congress to come up with some $600 billion it needs to finance universal health care.

My guess is Bernanke is trying to reassure investors he won't let inflation get out of control in coming years. If he has to, when the economy is safely out of the morass, he'll crank up short-term interest rates and squeeze the money supply.

But Bernanke also wants to deliver a message to Congress, a message the White House doesn't want to deliver because it's politically awkward: Congress will have to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to finance universal health care and reduce looming budget deficits. Such tax increases won't slow down the economy because the wealthy don't spend that much anyway (that's what it means to be wealthy -- you've already got most of what you need), but may be necessary, at least to ward off inflation fears.

l still think this ends in cut cuts to other programs -- taxes on upper incomes are a non-starter in Congress.