My questions for Ben's first press conference
Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism has issued a crowd-sourcing call for questions we'd like Ben Bernanke to answer at the first ever press conference by a Fed chairman. Here are somethings I'd like to know... 1) How much has the Federal Reserve spent on acquiring toxic assets from banks since their collapse? 2) How has absorbing the toxic assets of banks helped the residents of Main Street? 3) What benefit does the US gain from having investment banks considered "bank holding companies"? 4) How has becoming a "bank holding company" changed the behaviors of investment banks in ways that have created stability for the US economy? Or has it simply allowed them to continue to engage in risky business activities backed by the full faith of the US government? 5) Does the fear of inflation lead the Fed to develop policies that discourage wage increases? 6) Do you see a time in the near future when the banks in our financial sector will be force to deal wit...