Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the Independent and democratic socialist, was swift to condemn President Obama’s reappointment of Ben Bernanke as Fed chair. Sanders held Bernanke responsible for the greed that brought on the Great Recession.

"Bernanke was head of the Fed and the nation's chief economist as this crisis, driven by reckless speculation, developed,” he said. “Tragically, like the rest of the Bush administration, he was asleep at the wheel during this period and did nothing to move our financial system onto safer grounds.”

Sanders said he has little faith in Bernanke’s ability to restrain Wall Street.

“We need a chairman of the Federal Reserve,” he said, “who is more concerned about expanding the productive economy – increasing decent-paying jobs for all Americans – than continuing to fan the flames of Wall Street greed and outrageous compensation packages.”