Bernanke Needs to Toughen His Message and Congress Needs to Lead

Fed Chairman Bernanke is pussyfooting around in his testimony and providing an opening for Congressional "leaders" to continue to garner soundbites and play the usual partisan politics as the country heads straight for a potential disaster.  He needs to forcefully tell them we are fooling around with a tipping point and, once we go past it, it could be too late. If overnight the Chinese unload massive amounts of Treasuries and thereby push interest rates sharply higher, then Bernanke will be out front belatedly bemoaning Congress' failure to act. Instead of being reactive, it's time for the Chairman to be proactive.

When Congress asks if the Fed has considered contingency plan,s the Chairman should  tell them yes but also emphasize it is like making contingency plans in the event a massive asteroid was to hit Manhattan--because in truth we don't know what will happen. In the past, when the federal government shut down, foreigners didn't own as much of our debt. 

All of this makes it easy for me.  I, for one, am voting across the board against Congressional incumbents in the next election. Don't send the literature and don't call - save your campaign funds. I'm tired of seeing my tax money wasted as Congress dithers.

Congress learned nothing from 2008. Massive withdrawals from money funds were stopped by a last-minute federal government guarantee. Procrastinating a bit longer could easily have pushed the whole financial system over the brink. For the millions of Americans out of work, it did go over the brink.  Keep playing with tipping points, and eventually we'll go past the tipping point.  Once the levees break, it's too late - get out of town.