The Hill:
Finance chairman blasts Republicans for siding with 'foreign central banks' against Bernanke
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) blasted Republicans in an interview Monday, arguing that the GOP has taken the side of "foreign central banks" in debates over monetary policy.
"What's striking to me, frankly ... you said that Republicans are criticizing [Federal Reserve Chairman] Ben Bernanke. That's part of it. The Republicans are joining the Central Bank of China in attacking Bernanke. This is really distressing to me," he told Bloomberg Television's Margaret Brennan.
Republicans have recently come out against the Fed's asset-purchase program because they say it will cause a rise in inflation. Among those who have sent letters of opposition to Bernanke are Speaker-designate John Boehner (R-Ohio) and several Reagan-era economic officials.
"[W]hat they're saying," Frank said Monday, "is that America as the world's leader hasn't got a right to look at our own economic needs and somehow has to defer to everybody else. And I'm appalled by that. ... One argument is [that] this might lower our currency and that's unfair to China. But having China complain about currency manipulation is like being called silly by the Three Stooges."
To review, given that Republicans will block any additional stimulus spending and interests rates are at near-zero levels, the Fed's plan to purchases treasuries (which is generally referred to as quantitative easing) is the only major policy option available to stimulate economic growth. And it probably isn't aggressive enough.
Foreign central banks (China's in particular) don't like it because weakens the dollar, hurting their exports. And Republicans don't like it because (a) it is not consistent with their laissez fairre fundamentalism and (b) they don't want the economy to get better while Obama is president.
So, as Barney Frank says, you end up with these strange allies: foreign central banks and anti-Obama Republicans. If only it were so easy to get the GOP to work with Democrats.