Several days ago I received a bad report on the cottages I built last summer on country property.  Seems that not enough care was taken to insulate the pipes from the deep freeze that has engulfed the Great Plains. The pipes froze and burst. Now as the frozen pipes thaw out water is leaking everywhere and is not reaching, for example, the commodes--which is probably a good thing because the commodes are cracked. If only I had put anti-freeze in the commodes, drained all the pipes, blown them out with an airhose (the pipes are like an underground grid, the map of which has been misplaced), things might be different. But when I turn the well pump back on I really don't know what to expect, where the leaks will be and how much water might reach the commodes--which will probably need replacing.

I felt a certain kinship to Ben Bernanke as I watched the press conference in which he seemed almost as bewildered as I was when I got the bad report about my plumbing system. He also got a bad report. Seems that no matter how much liquidity he has put into the banking system, it is all leaking out somewhere. Jobs aren't being created. Smaller banks are not lending to small businesses.

But I part company with Ben when it comes to the idea of personal responsibility. In my case, I know that I screwed up not taking precautionary measures. And I have a piece of paper with the 10 things I must do in order to redesign the system before the next mega freeze sets in. But In Bernanke's case, nothing ever seems to be his fault. He keeps pumping money into an antiquated system. And damn it, there are leaks in the pipes. But Bernanke is devoid of a new design.

Bernanke seems perplexed that the macro levers are not working the way they should. But aren't the reasons clear? The mega banks are incentivized to employ their capital anywhere but in the small high growth businesses which create jobs. In not advocating for the decentralization of the mega banks and the strengthening of small and regional banks instead, Bernanke has made an implicit choice that taking risks by chasing assets favored by mega banks is preferred over taking risks on smaller high growth domestic firms that create the jobs.

Bernanke, almost sheepishly, referred to the increases in the equity markets as proof his policies were working. Well, Ben, no one is disagreeing that your policies are working to some small extent. It's just that the pipes in the overall system are leaking and the water isn't reaching the commodes--and when it does the commodes leak also. So the report is still not good. And you are taking no responsibility for improving the design before the next freeze comes. Oh, excuse me, probably not your job.