Price of Gold Under Last Four Fed Chiefs

In his testimony to the Senate this morning, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke just had a relatively heated exchange with Senator Bob Corker where the Fed Chairman claimed to have one of the best records of keeping inflation in check among Fed Chairmen in the post WWII period.

While CPI may have been contained under Bernanke, the price of gold sure hasn't.  The chart below shows the performance of gold during the tenures of the last four Fed Chairmen.  Under the leadership of Bernanke, the price of gold has increased by 182.9%.  This is more than double the return of gold under any of his three predecessors, and nearly as much as the total change in gold during the combined tenure of the last three Fed Chairs (201%)!  For those who use gold as a gauge of the dollar's true purchasing power, Bernanke's statement doens't hold much weight.