Obama Makes Safe Bet With Bernanke Reappointment

President Obama chose to go with the status quo and not shake things up at the Fed by reappointing Ben Bernanke. Despite widespread criticism, Obama praised Bernanke for helping the US avoid another Great Depression. Tim Iacono discusses how investors can be take advantage of from this latest development.

President Obama made it official this morning by nominating Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to a second four-year term as reported by MarketWatch.

In a short statement in Martha's Vineyard with Bernanke standing at his side, Obama said Bernanke's background, temperament, courage and creativity helped to prevent another Great Depression.

"Ben approached a financial system on the verge of collapse with calm and wisdom; with bold action and outside-the-box thinking that has helped put the brakes on our economic free fall," Obama said.
...
In a brief statement, Bernanke said the goals of his second term at the central bank will be fostering stable economic conditions and financial markets. "We have been bold or deliberate as circumstances demanded, but our objective remains constant: to restore a more stable economic and financial environment in which opportunity can again flourish," Bernanke said.

"Mr. President, I commit today to you and to the American people that, if confirmed by the Senate, I will work to the utmost of my abilities -- with my colleagues at the Federal Reserve and alongside the Congress and the Administration -- to help provide a solid foundation for growth and prosperity in an environment of price stability."

While Bernanke may face some testy questioning during his confirmation hearings this fall, a result of last year's bait-and-switch bank rescue package and other questionable dealings with giant Wall Street firms while standing at the side of former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson at the Treasury Department, approval for a second term is a virtual lock.

This is good news for financial markets in general and will likely spur even higher prices for many commodities, one commodity in particular.

You see, Ben Bernanke has been a veritable one-man gold price appreciation machine.

References to the government's printing press earlier in the decade and his eagerness to use it as Fed chairman apparently have a way pushing the gold price higher.

Since his initial nomination in 2005, when gold was trading at only about $465 an ounce, the yellow metal has more than doubled, besting just about any other asset class during that time, so gold bugs should welcome today's news.

Let's just hope that the next four years are as good as the last four - $2,000 an ounce gold in the year 2013 when it comes time for his next re-nomination sounds about right to me.

This post has been republished from Tim Iacono's blog, The Mess That Greenspan Made.