Bush names Bernanke Fed chairman
President George W Bush has nominated Ben Bernanke to succeed Alan Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve.
Bernanke was a bookies’ favourites, along with Republican stalwarts Martin Feldstein and Glenn Hubbard, both advisors to Ronald Reagan. A former economics professor at America’s elite Princeton University, Bernanke served as a Fed governor between 2002 and June of this year, when he joined the administration as the chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisors.
Greenspan, whose standing now overshadows the institution he led for 18 years, will leave the Fed at the end of January. The White House’s tardiness in naming a replacement led to speculation that Bush might try to convince Greenspan to remain beyond the expiry of his term. America is facing its most treacherous economic conditions in years: consumer prices rose by 1.2 per cent in September, the biggest monthly jump since March 1980.
