The current president has done at least one good thing -- appointing Ben Bernanke as Fed Chair. Bernanke has so far managed to keep the economy from plunging in response to the decline in the housing market and high oil prices. But what really intrigues me is his speech in Omaha yesterday in which he politely bashed Bush's economic policies.

I say politely because Bernanke didn't actually criticize Bush's tax and industrial policies that since 2001 have led directly to the income inequality which Bernanke enumerated in his speech. According to Bloomberg, Bernanke avoided talking about the income growth of the top 1% -- focusing instead on the lower economic level where the disparities are still bad. He noted that families earning more than $103,100 grabbed 48.1% of aggregate income rise in 2005, from 46.5% in 1995 while those earning between $45,000 and $68,300 lost ground -- with their share dropping from 15.8% to 15.3% during the same period.

Bernanke also put his oar in the water on executive pay, noting research that says the economic value of skilled leadership has increased as firms have grown larger. He cited my beloved -- and pain-inducing -- Boston Red Sox to illustrate the income disparity between star athletes and others, citing the 2004 $22.5 million pay package for Manny Ramirez. At the same time, he noted research that points to weak corporate governance as a source of high executive compensation.

How have Bush's policies contributed to the income inequality?

• W-Industrial Complex (WIC). Back in May 2001, I developed an index of stocks in the energy, defense, high end retail, and conservative media which I thought would benefit from Bush policies. The WIC index is up 174% since January 2001, compared with an 8% increase in the S&P 500
• Tax cuts for the top 1%. Bush cut taxes $1.6 trillion early in his term, 36.7% of which enriched the top 1%.
• Family business: hedge funds and private equity. Bush's father is an advisor to the Carlyle Group, a leading private equity firm, which owned 21% of United Defense Industries (UDI), the Bradley tank maker. UDI generated a 275% return for its public investors before it was acquired in March 2005. And Bush's brother Marvin runs a hedge fund -- a line of business that pays more than the median income. According to Alpha, the average pay of the top 100 hedge fund managers in 2005 was $363 million.

Bernanke wisely avoided mentioning these causes of growing income inequality. He advocated more education as a way to cure it. But in these days of divided government, his Omaha speech was another effort in the Bush PR effort to appear to be caring about Democratic issues -- such as income inequality, health care, and global warming -- without actually doing anything about them.

To the victor go the spoils. For everyone else, let them eat cake.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm. He also teaches Management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter.