Ben Bernanke, it’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore

I am no longer going to try to make sense of Ben Bernanke.  He says “no bailout forthcoming!” in all cases, but doesn’t mean it for Bear Stearns – JP Morgan, doesn’t mean it for Fannie and Freddie, does mean it for Lehman, doesn’t mean it for AIG….

I had previously likened Ben Bernanke to a mark that a used car salesman would salivate over. But after reading this post from Mish, it seems like AIG was trying to sell him on a smaller car than he eventually bought.  I wonder if he’d be better described as a poor poker player?  Seems like he had a chance to fold with $40 billion in the pot but, holding an off-suit 4 and 9,  opted to bluff with a $35 billion raise.  And he ended up leaving $75 billion on the table instead.

It seemed pretty apt to me until I realized that when most poker players lose, it’s their own money that is lost…  If I were an American taxpayer, I might liken Ben Bernanke to a thief.

… and the cow goes moo