No on Sarah Bloom Raskin – WSJ

Last month the president nominated Sarah Bloom Raskin, a former Obama financial regulator, to serve as the Fed s new vice chairman for supervision. The Federal Reserve s mission, as outlined by Congress, is explicitly nonpolitical. Good monetary policy requires the Fed s leaders to set partisanship and personal preferences aside. But judging by her past public statements, Ms. Raskin would have a hard time doing that.

A hallmark of Ms. Raskin s career has been her vendetta against U.S. energy producers a vendetta she likely plans to take with her to the Fed. Last summer she advocated using the Fed s stress tests to penalize banks that serve fossil-fuel companies. She has also urged the Fed to use its risk-based capital standards to drive capital away from oil and natural-gas firms toward sustainable investments. She has even gone so far as to suggest that the Fed should de-bank energy companies by establishing portfolio or concentration limits for banks on high-emission assets.

via www.wsj.com

Oh ffs. Maybe the Fed governors should be chosen by lottery. Then chances are they would do less harm.