Lower values. Off its high. Seen better days.
Home prices in the US, right? Wrong!
It’s what America thinks of Ben Bernanke.
The Federal Reserve chairman’s efforts to get up-close-and-personal with the American public seem to have backfired, with his popularity level dropping to its lowest levels in two years, a recent poll shows.
Just 30 percent of US adults polled recently said they view the bearded former Princeton professor and economist favorably — with 26 percent giving him two-thumbs down, according to a poll by Bloomberg News.
In September 2009 — roughly a year after Lehman Brothers’ disastrous collapse — 41 percent of the people polled cheered the Fed chief’s performance. And 22 percent at that time said they saw him in a negative light, according to the poll, conducted for Bloomberg by Selzer & Co.
The fall might be easily chalked up to the economy. Indeed, nearly three years after the credit crisis kicked off it’s unclear where unemployment or stocks are headed.
But critics say Bernanke’s desire for a brighter spotlight, which includes several press conferences a year, has only served to draw more attention to his two left feet.
The drop comes amid the Fed chief’s efforts to reach out and touch lunch-pail Americans by holding the regular chat with the media, a first in the 98-year history of the nation’s central bank.
On Wednesday, for example, Bernanke didn’t mince words when he said he has no clue what’s troubling the economy and stalling the much-anticipated recovery, sending stocks tumbling.
“We don’t have a precise read on why this slower pace of growth is persisting,” Bernanke said, adding, “Some of these headwinds may be stronger and more persistent than we thought.”
“So now we have the press conference, and the markets are more confused than ever,” said Moody’s chief economist, John Lonski.
Indeed, the poll shows the stink isn’t coming from the Fed itself, with 42 percent of folks saying they think the central bank is doing a good job.
It’s not the first time Bernanke has failed to assure citizens or investors as to the magnitude of the crisis. In February 2008, for example, he said he expected only small banks to fail as a result of the housing bubble bursting.
He also claimed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were “adequately capitalized” and “in no danger of failing,” prior to their budget-busting $163 billion bailout. kwhitehouse@nypost.com