FEMA-IZING THE FED….If you were nominating someone for a seat on the Federal Reserve, what would you look for? At a guess, you’d want someone with a PhD in economics and a good background in monetary policy, right?
Instead, how about a law degree, a few years of experience in the M&A trenches at Morgan Stanley, a well honed loyalty to the White House, and a father who donates a lot of money to Republican causes? Because that’s what we just got in 35-year-old Kevin Warsh, who was recently confirmed to an empty Fed seat. As Noam Scheiber says:
Even the heyday of Reagan-era economic quackery didn’t produce a Fed nominee as lacking in qualifications or experience as this one. The only way you appoint Kevin Warsh to a seat on the Federal Reserve board is if you have little respect for the practice of economic policy-making and you’re not ashamed to admit it. But, then, we already knew that about George W. Bush.
I understand why Republicans continue to rubber stamp appointments like this, but what’s up with Senate Democrats? This is the Fed, for God’s sake, not an ambassadorship to Luxembourg. What excuse do they have?
