January 28, 2010

He’s Back!

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Ben Bernanke was confirmed for a second term as Fed chairman today by a vote of 70-30. Neil Irwin of the Washington Post answers the first question that popped into my mind:

Bernanke was confirmed by a narrower margin than any previous Fed chairman. The previous record for most “no” votes was Paul Volcker in 1983, when he was confirmed 84 to 16.

Bernanke has “more votes against him than any Fed chairman has ever had. And that’s a signal,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), in an interview. “The Fed is controversial with the American people. Bailouts. Lack of supervision over [bank] holding companies.”

I hope Shelby is right. But my guess is that this is mostly a manifestation of the fact that confirmations have become more contentious in recent years. Even during a bad recession I’ll bet Bernanke would have been confirmed easily a few decades ago. After all, Sonia Sotomayor was no more liberal then Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but she was confirmed for the Supreme Court 68-31 compared to Ginsburg’s 96-3.

Anyway, I certainly look forward to a chastened Ben Bernanke coming out strongly in favor of serious financial sector regulation. I’m not taking any bets on it, though.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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