Bernanke's propaganda machine running at full throttle.

Well, Bernanke's term is ending soon, and Obama will have to choose between reappointing him, or not. So, unsurprisingly, Bernanke is himself crediting himself of saving the world, and the US Propaganda machine is now running full throttle explaining how great a job Bernanke has done, and avoiding any kind of criticism. Ignoring even the fact the House has passed a bill asking, following Ron Paul's push to "audit and end the Fed".

This reminds me of Alan Greenspan, who was called the Maestro, the saver of world, just to be discredited and humiliated a few months after his term at the Fed.

Now, let's just remember that Bernanke's actions dwarf everything Greenspan has ever done:

• Bernanke lowered the interest rates to ZERO where Greenspan only took them to 1%.
• Bernanke filled the Fed's balance sheet with toxic assets and sold most of the treasuries.
• Bernanke made a huge power grab and many illegal acts.
• Bernanke started Quantitative Easing (printing hundreds of billions of dollars)
• Bernanke tripled the Fed's balance sheet, moving it from about $800 billion to $2.4 trillion in just about a year.
• Bernanke took the equity markets to a PER of 140 while Greenspan never managed to beat 60.
  

So since his actions dwarf Greenspan's, logically, the bust/collapse resulting from them are also going to dwarf the collapse followed by Greenspan's bubbles.

Yet, the lemmings applause him and want more...

NYTimes: Bernanke, a Hero to His Own, Can't Shake Critics

WASHINGTON — Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, no longer looks sleep-deprived. He still works seven days a week, but earlier this month he took two days off — for the first time in two years — to attend his son’s wedding. [Me: well, maybe he could do the world a favor, and simply take a 20 year sabbatical so that his destructive actions are put to a halt] And he often gets home for dinner and even out to baseball games every few weeks.

As central bankers and economists from around the world gather on Thursday for the Fed’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., most are likely to welcome Mr. Bernanke as a conquering hero. In Washington and on Wall Street, it would be a surprise if President Obama did not nominate Mr. Bernanke for a second term, even though he is a Republican and was appointed by President George W. Bush.

But the White House has remained silent. And despite Mr. Bernanke’s credibility in financial circles [Me: who? Even Keynesian fools like Roubini or Krugman are not fully supporting him.], both he and the Fed as an institution have come under political fire from lawmakers in both parties over the handling of particular bailouts and the scope of the Fed’s power. [...]

Fellow economists, however, are heaping praise on Mr. Bernanke for his bold actions and steady hand in pulling the economy out of its worst crisis since the 1930s. [Me: we're not done yet, are we?] Tossing out the Fed’s standard playbook, Mr. Bernanke orchestrated a long list of colossal rescue programs: Wall Street bailouts, shotgun weddings, emergency loan programs, vast amounts of newly printed money and the lowest interest rates in American history.

Even one of his harshest critics now praises him. “He realized that the great recession could turn into the Great Depression 2.0, and he was very aggressive about taking the actions that needed to be taken,” said Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics, who had long criticized Fed officials for ignoring the dangers of the housing bubble. [Me: Now that Roubini wants a job at Washington, he's sucking up everybody he can...] [...]

On the political front, Mr. Bernanke is trying to defend the Fed’s power and independence as the White House and Congress debate plans to overhaul the system of financial regulation. [Me: Wouldn't it be the least a journalist could to, to explain at least why the Congress wants to do so?] [...]

We saved the world from disaster, Fed's Bernanke says

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The global economy is now beginning to emerge from its worst crisis in generations, but the downturn might have been much worse if central banks hadn't acted so forcefully last fall, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday.

In a speech at the Kansas City Fed's annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Bernanke summarized a hellish year and explained modestly how he and his central bank colleagues saved the world from a bigger disaster. Read his full remarks.

"The world has been through the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression," he said. "As severe as the economic impact has been, however, the outcome could have been decidedly worse."

If the Fed, other central banks and other government leaders hadn't acted in a coordinated and aggressive way in September and October of 2008, "the resulting global downturn could have been extraordinarily deep and protracted," Bernanke said.

Bernanke spoke to a selected group of top policy makers and economists. His speech, however, was aimed at a much wider audience: The president, the Congress and a public that's angry and confused.

Bernanke's term as chairman of the Fed runs out in January, and the financial world is watching to see if President Barack Obama reappoints Bernanke or hands to job to someone else.

Past financial panics have exacted an "enormous toll in both human and economic terms," Bernanke said. "In this episode, by contrast, policymakers in the United States and around the globe responded with speed and force to arrest a rapidly deteriorating and dangerous situation."

The policy response "averted the imminent collapse of the global financial system, an outcome that seemed all too possible to the finance ministers and central bankers."

Among the actions taken by the Fed and other central banks:

1. The Fed lowered interest rates to close to zero. Other central banks lowered rates as well.
2. Congress approved the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program to provide emergency financing to large banks. Other governments did the same with their banks.
3. Under the direction of the Group of Seven, government insurance for banks was expanded worldwide. Governments pledged to prevent the failure of systemically important banks, and they promised to provide adequate capital to the system.
4. The Fed created new facilities to "lend freely against sound collateral."
5. The Fed and other central banks began buying long-term debt issued by public and private institutions to inject liquidity to vital credit markets.
6. The Fed and the Treasury Department conducted a public "stress test" of large banks to determine their capital needs, which in turn was followed by significant increases in capital raised in private markets.
   

Bernanke's speech emphasized the policy response after the crisis erupted last September with the collapse of Lehman Bros. and the failure of other financial institutions, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, American International Group, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia.

CBS 60min Propaganda on the Fed, last year, available on YouTube.

If you want to see how every single prediction made by Bernanke turned to be wrong, watch this video on YouTube.

[Note: I have just noticed that Mish has also wrote a post called Orwellian Madness: "Bernanke saved the world", and I highly recommend reading it.]