New Delhi: Ben Bernanke, once a student of the Great Depression, is today a man who is being credited with avoiding another slide into a deep recession.
As central bankers struggled with stabilising the world economy, Bernanke led the efforts by pushing unprecedented coordinated action across borders.
However, with President Obama giving Bernanke his vote of confidence and a second term at the helm of the US Federal Reserve, it seems Bernanke is set to oversee the tough path towards a global recovery.
Bernanke's extension comes as no surprise to the global financial community. But that's not to say that Bernanke's policies and their eventual side effects are not being question by many noted economists.
Some critics worry that the decision to flood the global markets with excess capital could lead to hyperinflation down the line, while others question the impact that Bernanke's policies will have on the US dollar and still more worry about global asset bubbles re-emerging as surplus liquidity is used for unintended purposes.
Bernanke himself has accepted that his work is far from done and that calibrated withdrawal of his policies will be critical in determining their success.
Meanwhile, as the debate over monetary policies and the global recovery continues, the stamp of approval for Bernanke comes as a relief for any uncertainty over the world's most powerful central banker's fate that would have only added to the turmoil in the financial markets.