Could Gingrich Fire Bernanke? (American Spectator)

“I happen to be with you on auditing the Fed and on fund — and frankly, on firing Bernanke,” Newt Gingrich told Paul Ryan in last Saturday’s Republican debate. It’s a popular promise, one that Rick Perry has made as well. But is it tenable? Not really. Were Gingrich elected president, he’d have two options for firing Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. The first would be to initiate legal action against Bernanke. The second, and probably preferable, route would be to amend the Federal Reserve Act to give the president the power to fire the chairman at will. Both of these are easier said then done, but as The American Spectator points out, there is a third alternative: were Gingrich elected, it’s believable that Bernanke would simply step down of his own volition.