one person decides the US monetary policy... any guesses?

It is agreed that the US monetary policy is decided upon by the Federal Reserve bank and its monetary policy setting board whose chair is Chairman Bernanke. On Tuesday morning of January 23, 2008- actually, it took a bit longer than that, the world learned that Bernanke was not that person. Sure, he shaved a massive 0.75% from the interest rates before the markets opened in the US to a sure sell-off, but the decision to make that colossal cut, was not made by him.

Any guesses as to who that person might be?

It is Jérôme Kerviel, the so-called rogue trader, at Société Générale, the 2nd largest bank in France, who took a gamble on the stock futures market and lost 1.5 billion euros, which combined with other mistakes the bank made, cost the company $7 billion. The bank started unwinding into an unfavorable climate, causing panic and leading to a major sell-off across the globe. It was Mr. Kerviel, and not the fear of a US recession, or Mr. Bernanke, who made the rate-cut decision.

Now you know.