Grassley: No on Bernanke

Sen. Charles Grassley (Iowa), senior Republican on the Finance Committee, told reporters today that he will oppose Ben Bernanke’s bid for a second term atop the Federal Reserve, citing “concerns about inflation and the pattern of resistance to accountability.”

We need a chairman focused on a strong dollar and low inflation. The current chairman has been behind the scenes with a policy of easy money, inflating our way out of a stock market bubble to a housing bubble. Now we face the inevitable result, and it seems like we’re in a situation to repeat the mistakes of the past with the kind of hyperinflation we had in ’79 and ’80.

Bernanke’s first term expires at the end of January.