Bernanke Is Mistaken for Paulson Before Congress (Update1)

By Vivien Lou Chen


Jan. 17 (Bloomberg) --

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke discovered that an Ivy League career just doesn't leave the same impression as a Wall Street resume for some lawmakers.

Approaching his second anniversary at the helm of the U.S. central bank, Bernanke found himself mistaken for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during a hearing in Congress today.

``Seeing as how you were the former CEO of Goldman Sachs,'' Representative Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, began to say before the Fed chief interjected.

``No, you're confusing me with the Treasury secretary,'' Bernanke said at the House Budget Committee hearing. Paulson was the chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. before joining the Treasury in 2006.

``I got the wrong firm?'' asked Kaptur, 61, who is serving her 13th term and represents northern Ohio's ninth Congressional district.

``Yes,'' replied Bernanke.

``Paulson. Oh, OK. Where were you, sir?''

``I was a CEO of the Princeton Economics Department,'' Bernanke replied to laughter from the hearing room. Bernanke, 54, chaired the economics department at the Ivy League university before becoming a Fed governor in 2002. He later headed the White House Council of Economic Advisers, becoming Fed chairman in February 2006.

Bernanke, who appears on the cover of this coming Sunday's New York Times magazine, acknowledged before Congress today that the economy is weak enough to need fiscal stimulus.

``It was an honest mistake,'' said Emily Boening, a spokeswoman for Kaptur. ``But the Republicans have made bigger, more severe mistakes on economic policy. It was a few seconds of a very productive hearing otherwise.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Vivien Lou Chen in San Francisco vchen1@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: January 17, 2008 18:07 EST