Flying Pink Unicorns

Ben Bernanke should be Time's person of the year

I call on Time to make Ben Bernanke the 2009 person of the year. Its not even close. Sorry Barack. More so than even Geithner, he has led a hugely aggressive, hugely creative and hugely successful effort to save the US and world economies from a second Great Depression, a fate which looked altogether too likely when 2009 began. This famous scholar of the Great Depression was and is bound and determined not to let another depression happen on his watch, and he has succeeded beyond almost everyones expectations, though not mine. As 2010 begins, the economy has, at a minimum, even if I'm WRONG on all of my predictions, clearly avoided a Great Depression, where unemployment rises well above 15%, perhaps even 20%, and mass bread lines form. And with a different less aggressive and determined Federal Reserve Chairman, that could have been our fate.

And, of course, as my loyal readers know, I believe that the economy is poised to begin a spectacular multi-year boom, which I have labelled the Obama Boom (because that is how the public will perceive it) although it really should be called the Bernanke boom. And with private debt considerably lower than before the Great Recession began in 2008, we are beginning 2010 on a sounder footing for a sustainable recovery than at any time in a great many years, probably since before the Vietnam buildup in 1966! Bernanke is in no small part the one man to thank for this wonderful scenario, and that's why he's my runaway choice for person of the year. In fact, if I were to pick person of the decade he would be a serious contender, and probably my pick, (Bin Ladin? W?) despite being only a minor player on the world stage until he succeeded Greenspan in 2006. Here's to W's one positive lasting legacy! When you sip champagne at 12:00 a.m. on 1/1/10, spare a thought for Ben the Great!