Bernanke Fights Back for Fed

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says that efforts to curb the power of America's central bank under consideration by Congress must be halted. "They would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States," Bernanke writes in Sunday's Washington Post. The Fed helped stop the financial crisis, Bernanke says, and its regulatory role needs to be protected and not diminished. Bernanke's op-ed is his first major response to the proposals in the House and Senate that would limit the Fed's powers. According to The Wall Street Journal, the article is part of a recent campaign led by Bernanke to take his case public. “Congress has a lot of public support for an attack on the Fed,” one historian told Bloomberg News. “They bailed out everybody in sight.” “Now more than ever, America needs a strong, nonpolitical and independent central bank with the tools to promote financial stability and to help steer our economy to recovery without inflation,” Bernanke writes.