Ex-Chief of the Fed Cashes In on $250,000 Speaking Fees

Is Ben Bernanke, chief fire fighter during the last financial meltdown, in need of cash? Just three weeks after his departure from the presidency of the hegemonic Fed, the American Federal Reserve that sets monetary policy in the U.S., Ben Bernanke gave his first lecture in Abu Dhabi. His appearance lasted 40 minutes and was remunerated $250,000, which is more than his last annual salary in Washington.

More Optimistic

The man, sometimes called the most powerful being on the planet, only earned $199,700 in 2013 to fight back the meltdown of the world finance system. In Abu Dhabi, the attendees, who had paid two thousand dollars for this apparition, were given both an explanation of the strategy used by the Fed when it faced the 2007-2009 crisis and were the exclusive beneficiaries of his financial forecast. According to the ex-Fed chief, U.S. growth will increase to 3 percent in 2014, a version timidly more optimistic than the IMF’s (2.8 percent). In his speech, Bernanke also observed that the first thing he learned on the job was that the United States … is not invulnerable to crises.

In terms of speakers’ fees, Bill Clinton remains the master. According to experts, he would have made two or three times Bernanke’s envelop for appearances these past few years.

Bernanke’s predecessor Alan Greenspan, meanwhile, pocketed $266,000 for a dinner in 2006 at … Lehman Brothers, two years before the bank’s collapse. He sold the rights of his first book for $8 million. How much for the one Ben Bernanke already has in the works?