Five years ago, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned members of Congress that without an emergency bailout for Wall Street "we may not have an economy on Monday." Lehman Brothers collapsed, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship, and AIG was seized by the federal government. In providing nearly $1 trillion to Wall Street, President George W. Bush said that he "abandoned free market principles to save the free market system." Did we save the free market system or merely allow the Federal Reserve to forestall yet another economic catastrophe? Author and managing director of Tangent Capital James G. Rickards has claimed that the Federal Reserve is "playing with a nuclear reactor." As the Bernanke-era draws to a close, Rickards will discuss the Fed chairman's legacy, the inherent vulnerabilities facing the U.S. dollar, and the challenges ahead for the new occupant at the Eccles Building.
- James Rickards via Fora.tv:
