Dear Mr. President,
On the question of who is to replace Ben Bernanke as chair of the Federal Reserve, can you seriously be thinking of appointing the fox to run the henhouse?
The New York Times wrote this morning (7/26/13) that the choice is between Lawrence Summers (the fox) and Janet Yellen (the hen?). Summers supporters assert that it is not because Janet Yellen is a woman that she is being considered for the job, thereby drawing attention to the fact that she is a woman. Summers has in the past made mention of the variability in aptitude of men and women. It would be rude to imply that Ms. Yellen is any less competent to be the next chair than Summers is, yet his supporters say he is the best candidate for the job.
This is all a red herring, because the Summers side is attempting to deflect attention from the real issue, namely that Summers represents everything that the next chair should not be in this time and place. Mr. Summers is the revolving-door keeper between government and Wall Street. His network appears to consist solely of graduates of Goldman, Sachs, so many of whom are now in government posts. These are the people who are responsible for the grief and sorrow that was visited upon us by the financial crisis. And we had to bail them out? Why are they still around, when they should all have been busted to private?
Most of us don’t care how economically efficient a derivative instrument is. Nor do we believe that investment banks, high-speed traders, or private equity and hedge funds improve our lives. We believe they exist to improve their own lives. Do you really believe that a Federal Reserve with Summers as chair would be independent of Wall Street? A wise man (or a wise guy) said to me recently that you yourself might be looking for a job at Goldman after the presidency. Now, that’s a canard. Right?
Cordially, El Rey
