While Americans are focusing on healthcare, a battle over the all important Fed chairmanship has been raging. The friendly front page NYT article entitled A Hero to His Fellows, Bernanke Still Faces Fire in Washington signals a major escalation. This is what his supporters, the objective reporter calls"economimist," consider his heroism:

But economists say Mr. Bernanke’s most important accomplishment was to create staggering amounts of money out of thin air.

All told, the Federal Reserve has expanded its balance sheet to $1.9 trillion today, from about $900 billion a year ago.

I find it hard to call such dollar trashing heroic. I am not sure that the man who got us into the mess is the best man to get us out. Still, the real question is whether is replacement will be even worse?

In the meantime, I suspect the market and recovery killing oil prices will continue rising at least until the decision is made.

Oh, yes, economist are"surprised" yet again. New jobless claims rise unexpectedly to 576K