“US Representative Barney Frank introduced a bill yesterday that would block the heads of Federal Reserve regional banks in Boston and elsewhere from voting when they serve on the Fed’s interest-rate-setting panel in Washington. The presidents of the regional banks take turns filling five of the 12 voting seats on the Federal Open Market Committee, the central bank body that tries to influence the US economy through the setting of short-term interest rates. But the Massachusetts Democrat said the regional presidents are “representatives of private interests’’ who should not “vote on this extremely important issue of public policy.’’ The regional presidents are appointed to their jobs by the directors of the bank branch, who are mostly local business leaders.” Read more.
“Bill Would Deny Fed Chiefs Interest Rate Votes”
Steven Syre
Boston Globe, May 4, 2011.
Image by Keatticorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
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