by Higgenbotham » Mon Sep 14, 2026 9:58 am
Higgenbotham wrote: Fri Sep 11, 2026 10:49 pm
For example:
Higgenbotham wrote: Wed Sep 09, 2026 12:09 pm
In dark age theory, I've said many times that late 2011 represented a cut point where the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bankers established the certainty of a new dark age by their actions.
and we see on the list:
Fractional-reserve banking and bills of exchange: Medieval Italian and Dutch merchants created credit networks and paper bills to transfer money without moving heavy physical gold. This vastly increased the fluidity of global capital.
What I mean by that is, foundationally speaking, it's important to understand how and why these systems came into being, what rules for their operation were established, what things should never be done so as to not undermine the system, and whether the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bankers by their actions in 2011 crossed lines that never should be crossed.
This is a good piece of journalism. It would have been better if they had gone back further in time but it's good enough.
Bernanke Policies At Fed Broke His Own Rules Of Central Banking
Thomas L. Hogan And Linh Le06:26 PM ET 02/07/2014
As Ben Bernanke's tenure at the Federal Reserve drew to a close, many wondered how history will remember this controversial chairman. Although he is widely respected as an academic, economists are divided regarding Bernanke's actions during the 2008 financial crisis.
Some think the Fed did everything by the book, while others contend its bank bailouts were unprecedented, possibly bordering on illegal. Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, for example, said the Fed's actions "extend to the very edge of its lawful and implied powers, transcending certain long-embedded principles and practices."
Did Bernanke save us from another Great Depression, or did he sell out to Wall Street by bailing out the big banks?
One way to evaluate his performance is to ask what course of action most economists recommend in a crisis and see if Bernanke followed their advice. In fact, Bernanke himself has proposed exactly that. He claims to have followed the standard playbook for financial crises: the rules for a classical lender of last resort set forth by 19th-century economist Walter Bagehot.
Bagehot's rules are considered the most effective guidelines for central bankers in times of panic. In his famous book "Lombard Street," Bagehot proposed a course of action for the Bank of England in response to banking crises.
Bagehot was not an advocate of central banking, but given the role taken on by the Bank of England as a central banker, he believed that the bank should act as the lender of last resort in times of panic. Bagehot had four rules for a lender of last resort:
1. The central bank should lend freely to solvent banks. As long as they are backed by sound collateral, there should be no limit on the loan amounts.
2.The central bank should only provide last-resort loans at a high rate of interest. This penalty rate serves as a self-selection mechanism so only the banks that are truly in need of funds seek them.
3. The central bank should only lend to illiquid but fundamentally solvent institutions. During a crisis, the central banker is under pressure because many banks are short on liquidity. However, the central bank should only make loans that it expects to be repaid in the future.
4.The central bank should announce its policies before any crisis takes place. This creates an expectation that the central bank will help to stabilize the banking system in future financial crises.
It is clear that the Fed's bailouts deviated significantly from Bagehot's recommendations. The Fed did not charge a high penalty rate of interest on its loans to at-risk banks. To the contrary, the Fed lowered its lending rates during the crisis.
Nor did the Fed deal only in good securities. Rather, it freely accepted risky assets such as mortgage-backed securities in order to get these toxic assets off banks' balance sheets and replace them with safe, liquid assets.
Did the Fed announce its policy in advance? Hardly. It bailed out Bear Stearns, then let Lehman Brothers fail, and then bailed out everyone else.
Perhaps the most important deviation from Bagehot's rules is the Fed's bailout of insolvent financial institutions.
https://www.investors.com/politics/comm ... e-economy/
Bernanke's and Draghi's violation of the basic tenets of Central Banking (and more) was covered in this forum and in other places at the time. Then Bernanke cashed in after he left the Fed.
Maybe more important is to look at who put Bernanke in charge and who lauded him.
Who lauded Bernanke?
AI Overview
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been widely lauded by a variety of world leaders, major institutions, and prominent economists for his academic insights and his aggressive management of the 2008 global financial crisis.
The primary figures and institutions who have praised him include:
U.S. Presidents
Barack Obama: When nominating Bernanke for a second term in 2009, President Obama strongly lauded him for his "calm and wisdom," "bold action," and "outside-the-box thinking," famously stating that Bernanke's guidance helped prevent a second Great Depression.
George W. Bush: When appointing Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan in 2005, President Bush lauded his intellect, noting his speeches for their "keen insight and clear, simple language."
Global Institutions & Committees
The Nobel Prize Committee: In 2022, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Bernanke the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (alongside Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig). The committee praised his groundbreaking 1983 historical research into the Great Depression, which proved that bank failures propagate and worsen economic meltdowns rather than just being a side effect of them.
Time Magazine: The publication named Bernanke its 2009 Person of the Year, lauding him as the most important driver behind the containment of the global economic free fall.
The BBVA Foundation: In 2021, they presented Bernanke with the prestigious Frontiers of Knowledge Award for demonstrating how financial market flaws amplify macroeconomic recessions.
Academic Peers and Economists
Simon Johnson (MIT): The prominent economist and author noted that Bernanke deserved immense praise for his "improvisation" during the crisis, pointing out that Bernanke's ideas fundamentally shifted how the policy world responds to banks to prevent collapse.
John Hassler (Nobel Committee Economist): Stated that Bernanke's once-radical views on proactive central bank intervention during financial crises "have become the conventional wisdom."
His Peer Institutions: Academic leaders at Princeton University (where he chaired the economics department) and MIT (his alma mater) have heavily praised him for successfully bridging high-level academic theory with real-world crisis management.
(Note: While Bernanke has received extensive praise, his policies—such as implementing multi-trillion-dollar quantitative easing and Wall Street bailouts—also drew strong criticism from some members of Congress and free-market economists who argued his interventions set dangerous precedents.)
He's another Fauci.
[quote=Higgenbotham post_id=95405 time=1789181356 user_id=100]
For example:
[quote=Higgenbotham post_id=95384 time=1788970172 user_id=100]
In dark age theory, I've said many times that late 2011 represented a cut point where the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bankers established the certainty of a new dark age by their actions.[/quote]
and we see on the list:
[quote]Fractional-reserve banking and bills of exchange: Medieval Italian and Dutch merchants created credit networks and paper bills to transfer money without moving heavy physical gold. This vastly increased the fluidity of global capital.[/quote]
What I mean by that is, foundationally speaking, it's important to understand how and why these systems came into being, what rules for their operation were established, what things should never be done so as to not undermine the system, and whether the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bankers by their actions in 2011 crossed lines that never should be crossed.[/quote]
This is a good piece of journalism. It would have been better if they had gone back further in time but it's good enough.
[quote]Bernanke Policies At Fed Broke His Own Rules Of Central Banking
Thomas L. Hogan And Linh Le06:26 PM ET 02/07/2014
As Ben Bernanke's tenure at the Federal Reserve drew to a close, many wondered how history will remember this controversial chairman. Although he is widely respected as an academic, economists are divided regarding Bernanke's actions during the 2008 financial crisis.
Some think the Fed did everything by the book, while others contend its bank bailouts were unprecedented, possibly bordering on illegal. Former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, for example, said the Fed's actions "extend to the very edge of its lawful and implied powers, transcending certain long-embedded principles and practices."
Did Bernanke save us from another Great Depression, or did he sell out to Wall Street by bailing out the big banks?
One way to evaluate his performance is to ask what course of action most economists recommend in a crisis and see if Bernanke followed their advice. In fact, Bernanke himself has proposed exactly that. He claims to have followed the standard playbook for financial crises: the rules for a classical lender of last resort set forth by 19th-century economist Walter Bagehot.
Bagehot's rules are considered the most effective guidelines for central bankers in times of panic. In his famous book "Lombard Street," Bagehot proposed a course of action for the Bank of England in response to banking crises.
Bagehot was not an advocate of central banking, but given the role taken on by the Bank of England as a central banker, he believed that the bank should act as the lender of last resort in times of panic. Bagehot had four rules for a lender of last resort:
1. The central bank should lend freely to solvent banks. As long as they are backed by sound collateral, there should be no limit on the loan amounts.
2.The central bank should only provide last-resort loans at a high rate of interest. This penalty rate serves as a self-selection mechanism so only the banks that are truly in need of funds seek them.
3. The central bank should only lend to illiquid but fundamentally solvent institutions. During a crisis, the central banker is under pressure because many banks are short on liquidity. However, the central bank should only make loans that it expects to be repaid in the future.
4.The central bank should announce its policies before any crisis takes place. This creates an expectation that the central bank will help to stabilize the banking system in future financial crises.
It is clear that the Fed's bailouts deviated significantly from Bagehot's recommendations. The Fed did not charge a high penalty rate of interest on its loans to at-risk banks. To the contrary, the Fed lowered its lending rates during the crisis.
Nor did the Fed deal only in good securities. Rather, it freely accepted risky assets such as mortgage-backed securities in order to get these toxic assets off banks' balance sheets and replace them with safe, liquid assets.
Did the Fed announce its policy in advance? Hardly. It bailed out Bear Stearns, then let Lehman Brothers fail, and then bailed out everyone else.
Perhaps the most important deviation from Bagehot's rules is the Fed's bailout of insolvent financial institutions.[/quote]
https://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/bernanke-was-neither-a-sellout-nor-a-savior-of-the-economy/
Bernanke's and Draghi's violation of the basic tenets of Central Banking (and more) was covered in this forum and in other places at the time. Then Bernanke cashed in after he left the Fed.
Maybe more important is to look at who put Bernanke in charge and who lauded him.
[quote]
Who lauded Bernanke?
AI Overview
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has been widely lauded by a variety of world leaders, major institutions, and prominent economists for his academic insights and his aggressive management of the 2008 global financial crisis.
The primary figures and institutions who have praised him include:
U.S. Presidents
Barack Obama: When nominating Bernanke for a second term in 2009, President Obama strongly lauded him for his "calm and wisdom," "bold action," and "outside-the-box thinking," famously stating that Bernanke's guidance helped prevent a second Great Depression.
George W. Bush: When appointing Bernanke to replace Alan Greenspan in 2005, President Bush lauded his intellect, noting his speeches for their "keen insight and clear, simple language."
Global Institutions & Committees
The Nobel Prize Committee: In 2022, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Bernanke the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (alongside Douglas Diamond and Philip Dybvig). The committee praised his groundbreaking 1983 historical research into the Great Depression, which proved that bank failures propagate and worsen economic meltdowns rather than just being a side effect of them.
Time Magazine: The publication named Bernanke its 2009 Person of the Year, lauding him as the most important driver behind the containment of the global economic free fall.
The BBVA Foundation: In 2021, they presented Bernanke with the prestigious Frontiers of Knowledge Award for demonstrating how financial market flaws amplify macroeconomic recessions.
Academic Peers and Economists
Simon Johnson (MIT): The prominent economist and author noted that Bernanke deserved immense praise for his "improvisation" during the crisis, pointing out that Bernanke's ideas fundamentally shifted how the policy world responds to banks to prevent collapse.
John Hassler (Nobel Committee Economist): Stated that Bernanke's once-radical views on proactive central bank intervention during financial crises "have become the conventional wisdom."
His Peer Institutions: Academic leaders at Princeton University (where he chaired the economics department) and MIT (his alma mater) have heavily praised him for successfully bridging high-level academic theory with real-world crisis management.
(Note: While Bernanke has received extensive praise, his policies—such as implementing multi-trillion-dollar quantitative easing and Wall Street bailouts—also drew strong criticism from some members of Congress and free-market economists who argued his interventions set dangerous precedents.)[/quote]
He's another Fauci.