Timmy loves Ben.............

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner warned that the financial markets would view a Senate rejection of Ben Bernanke's renomination as "very troubling" but said he's sure the embattled Federal Reserve chairman will prevail. "We're very confident that the chairman will be reconfirmed by the Senate, and we think it's very important he be reconfirmed by the Senate," Geithner said Friday in an interview at the Treasury for POLITICO's new video series, "Inside Obama's Washington," debuting Monday...Link

Ben Bernanke no sure bet in the Senate.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke may be Time magazine’s Man of the Year — but he hasn’t convinced senators he’s the man for the job. In the wake of Tuesday’s Massachusetts stunner, Bernanke’s chances of returning for a second term as head of the Fed were thrown into doubt, as a pair of liberal Democratic senators Friday jumped on the dump-Bernanke bandwagon. It was no idle threat. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he’d call a vote next week but couldn’t say for sure Friday that he has the 60 votes to confirm Bernanke by the time his term expires Jan. 31...Link

No more Conan on NBC.

‘A whole new system of housing finance’.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) has the nation's largest mortgage lenders squarely in his sights, and he's aiming to take them down. Backing what he called a "piecemeal" effort to reform how Americans purchase their homes, the Congressman said on Friday that the House Financial Services Committee, which he chairs, will likely move to abolish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two banks previously considered "too big to fail." In their place, he said, "a whole new system of housing finance" should rise...Link