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发帖数: 7881 | 1 Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said she would support
changes to the top ranks of the Federal Reserve, an issue recently
championed by progressive groups amid debate over how long the central bank
should keep supporting the American economy.
The Fed is led by a seven-member board of governors based in Washington and
a dozen regional bank presidents based across the country, from New York to
Kansas City to San Francisco. The governors are nominated by the White House
and approved by the Senate, but regional bank presidents are selected by a
board of directors with nine seats, whose occupants are chosen by the
banking industry and by the Fed governors in Washington.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Clinton’s campaign said she supports
removing bankers from the boards of directors and increasing diversity
within the Fed.
"The Federal Reserve is a vital institution for our economy and the well-
being of our middle class, and the American people should have no doubt that
the Fed is serving the public interest,” spokesman Jesse Ferguson said. “
That's why Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more
representative of America as a whole and that commonsense reforms — like
getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks — are long
overdue.”
The statement puts Clinton on the same page as her rival, Vermont Sen.
Bernie Sanders. In an op-ed in the New York Times in December, he said
removing bankers from the Fed’s governance would mean “the foxes would no
longer guard the henhouse.”
On Thursday, Sanders and top Democratic lawmakers called on the Fed to
increase the number of minorities in leadership positions. They also urged
the central bank to consider the high unemployment rate among some racial
groups as it debates whether to keep pulling back its support for the
American economy.
In a letter to Fed Chair Janet Yellen, the lawmakers argued that more
minority representation would help broaden the Fed’s internal discussions
about the health of the economy. In addition to Sanders, 10 senators signed
the letter, including banking committee members Elizabeth Warren of
Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Robert Menendez of New Jersey.
California Rep. Maxine Waters, ranking member of the House financial
services committee, was among the more than 100 House Democrats who joined
the effort as well.
“Given the critical linkage between monetary policy and the experiences of
hardworking Americans, the importance of ensuring that such positions are
filled by persons that reflect and represent the interests of our diverse
country, cannot be understated,” the letter states. “When the voices of
women, African-Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and
labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often
neglected.”
Donald Trump, the GOP’s presumptive nominee, did not return a request for
comment.
The leaders of the Fed are responsible for steering the ship of the American
economy, setting a benchmark interest rate that can influence the cost of
borrowing money for everything from a car, to a home to a factory. They also
regulate the country’s biggest banks and help ensure the nation's
financial system can withstand another crisis, making them among the most
influential policymakers in the world.
Those officials tend to be white males. Yellen is the first woman to serve
as chair in the central bank’s 101-year history. Only three Fed governors
have been African American, and there have been no black regional bank
presidents. No one now in the top brass is Hispanic.
In addition, an analysis by the progressive Center for Popular Democracy
found that 83 percent of the boards of directors are white and three-fourths
are male. The group also found that 39 percent of directors come from the
financial industry, while 11 percent are from community groups, labor
organizations or academia.
Under current law, the Fed’s boards of directors are required to include
representatives from the banking industry. However, they are not allowed to
participate in the choosing the reserve bank's presidents — the officials
who would be responsible for setting the nation’s monetary policy.
In a statement, a spokesman for the Fed’s board of governors said it is
committed to fostering diversity of all types within its leadership and that
its track record has improved.
“To bring a variety of perspectives to Federal Reserve Bank and Branch
boards, we have focused considerable attention in recent years on recruiting
directors with diverse backgrounds and experience,” the statement said. “
By law, we consider the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry,
services, labor, and consumers. We also are aiming to increase ethnic and
gender diversity.”
The criticism comes in the midst of a controversial debate within the
central bank. The Fed hiked interest rates in December for the first time
since the Great Recession, citing the strength in the U.S. recovery. It had
anticipated increasing rates four more times this year but has since
downgraded that expectation amid weakness in the global economy. Investors
around the world are now carefully watching to see what the Fed will do when
it meets again in June.
The Center for Popular Democracy and its activist coalition, Fed Up, are
pressuring the central bank not to raise its benchmark interest rate until
the unemployment rate falls to 4 percent. Sanders has endorsed that target
in the past, though the letter released Thursday said only that the central
bank should give “due consideration” to the unevenness of the recovery.
“It is unacceptable that discussion of the job market for these populations
would be an afterthought, or worse, ignored entirely, and we are concerned
that the lack of balanced representation may be a significant cause of this
oversight,” Democratic lawmakers said in their letter to Yellen.
Democrats have generally supported the central bank’s aggressive stimulus
efforts following the 2008 financial crisis, but the prospect of higher
interest rates is prompting some to question the Fed’s stance. In
congressional testimony earlier this year, Yellen said there are limits to
the central bank’s ability to help disadvantaged communities.
"It’s important to recognize that our powers, which involve setting
interest rates, affecting financial conditions, are not targeted and can't
be targeted at the experience of particular groups,” she said. “I think it
always has been true and continues to be true that when the labor market
improves, the experience of all groups does improve."
The Fed established an internal diversity office in 2011 as part of sweeping
congressional reforms of the country’s financial system. The latest annual
report for the Washington-based board of governors found minorities made up
just 18 percent of top management in 2015, down from 21 percent the
previous year. However, more than half of mid-level managers and
administrative and support workers are minorities.
The report outlines several steps the Fed is taking to improve the
recruitment and promotion of minority employees, such as a teaching and
mentoring partnership with Howard University, a prestigious historically
black college in the District. |
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