Friday, January 18, 2008

Critics of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke argue that he is ill-served by not having experience on Wall Street. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) apparently didn't share that concern.

At yesterday's House Budget Committee hearing, Kaptur, after criticizing the role banks played in the housing crisis, asked Bernanke to respond. After all, she said, he used to be chief executive of Goldman Sachs, the giant investment bank.

Kaptur had apparently confused him with Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who was formerly chairman of Goldman.

"I got the wrong firm?" Kaptur asked, after Bernanke corrected her.

"I was CEO of the Princeton economics department," Bernanke clarified, referring to his time as department chairman at the university.

-- Neil Irwin