After serving as the Chairman of the President George W. Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers, Ben Shalom Bernanke became the Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve on February 1, 2006 replacing four-term Fed Chair Alan Greenspan who served for four Presidents. Before joining the Feds, Bernanke was a tenured professor and the Chair of the Department of Economics at the Princeton University. President Obama nominated and the U.S. Senate confirmed Bernanke for a second four-year term on January 28, 2010. He will reach 60 later this year. The Internet and the print media are speculating that he will not be returned as the Fed Chair for a third term.
Even though the Fed Chairman supposed to be an independent, since President LBJ, nominees were a team player of the sitting President. The buzz is that President Obama hinting that Bernanke will not be his likely nominee next year. Names that are floating to replace Bernanke at the helm of the Feds include former San Francisco Fed governor and current Fed vice Chair Janet Yellen and Larry Summers, a brilliant economist and a current economic advisor to President Obama. Hope that someone who can improve the economy and bring more jobs will succeed Bernanke.