OpEd: Bernanke Speech: Unsettling Questions

OpEd: Bernanke speech: Unsettling Questions

After the canned speech, the "on the other hand" Greenspan type of neutered accounting analysis, the forum was opened up for questions.

A senator asked Bernanke whether he thought it was pretty stunning that these genius "quants" that had devised the CMO derivatives, had so little knowledge as to the valuation of their invention.

He responded that yes, it was pretty stunning. And he offered that it was because they went by the "rating" of AAA and did not do "due diligence." In a heartbeat, he had called them "negligent." I believe that the point was not missed by observers.

Then the follow up question:

"Do you know more than they do?" she asked.

Bernanke hesitated. Then he said that it was not the Federal Reserve's role to know the valuation of the holdings or whether the firms had been prudent, since it was the free market, or something to that effect.

That was not the right answer.

The bottom line: NOBODY has a handle on the total exposure of the problem. And nobody is willing to take the leadership to find out and LEAD.

So. Mr. Bernanke did say he was working on a "template" for the workout process so at the end of the day, parties would have a standard format for equitable handling of mortgage foreclosures. That was welcome.

Jim Grant, of Grant's Interest Rate Observer, hit the nail on the head when he said that nobody wants to see---it is just too painful to see the reality of the losses right in front of their nose.

Stay tuned to The Observer.