Texas Gov. Rick Perry has stated that if he is elected president, one person will be guaranteed of becoming unemployed: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
In an interview with CNBC, the candidate for the Republican presidential nomination returned to an earlier campaign focus of blaming Bernanke for the current economic environment.
‘The statement towards Chairman Bernanke needs to be very clear to him, that making monetary policy to cover up bad fiscal policy is just bad public policy,’ Perry said. ‘What we're seeing is a Fed that is getting involved in things that, frankly, it does not need to be involved with. Printing money doesn't do anything at this particular juncture except make the dollars in our pocket worth less money, plus it puts us in jeopardy of greater inflation in the future.’
Perry added that he would not reappoint Bernanke to a third term at the Fed. Bernanke was first appointed by President George W. Bush and was reappointed last year by President Obama. Perry's comments were less provocative than previous remarks, when he stated that Texans would treat Bernanke ‘pretty ugly’ if he were to visit the Lone Star State.
Also in his CNBC interview, Perry expanded his criticism to Warren Buffett by suggesting the billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO is out of touch with economic realities.
‘Mr. Buffett is a real intelligent individual,’ he said. ‘But I can promise you he doesn't know what's going on in places where the job creation is at zero because of over-taxation and over-regulation,’ Perry said.
Perry's remarks followed a speech delivered by Bernanke yesterday in Cleveland, where the Fed chairman warned that ‘monetary policy is not a panacea.’