Unemployment Rate of Fed Governors Hits 42%

Donald Kohn, the Vice-Chairman of the Federal Reserve, announced his retirement today.
This is interesting because his retirement will bring the number of Fed governors down to four. There are supposed to be seven.
President Obama and the Senate need to get on the stick. There are three vacancies to fill. Obama has only had one appointment so far plus reappointing Bernanke as Fed Chair which is a separate appointment.
The Fed’s Board is not to be confused with the Federal Open Market Committee which makes decisions on interest rates. The FOMC has 12 members; the seven Fed Board members, called governors, plus five presidents of the regional Fed banks. The head of the New York Fed is a permanent member, the other presidents rotate.
The idea of the Federal Reserve Act is that the bank presidents will always be outnumbered by the political appointees. Unless that’s done soon, the bank presidents will have a majority although Kohn can serve until there’s a replacement.

Posted by Eddy Elfenbein on March 1st, 2010 at 2:32 pm

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