Is Fed Chief Ben Bernanke A Hero, A Villain Or Neither?

Ben Bernanke, chair of the Federal Reserve, is hated on the left and right-- critics say he has either done too much or not enough.

But finance journalist Roger Lowenstein argues that Bernanke has "saved the economy—and has navigated masterfully through the most trying of times."

The 'Good Guy'

Lowenstein told Here & Now's Robin Young that Bernanke has been the "good guy in this story."

"This is the guy that brought us back from the brink and rather than being castigated and threatened... he should be recognized for that," he said.

Lowenstein writes in The Atlantic that, "The visceral criticism of Bernanke is hard to fathom, but it is in part the flip side of the enormous trust that we are asked to place in the modern Federal Reserve."

And Benanke isn't taking the heat sitting down. Many have remarked that he is probably been the most public Fed chair ever-- he is even speaking to a college class at George Washington University Tuesday, something no Fed chair has ever done.