An Extremist Flames Out

Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden's choice for the post

of vice chairwoman of the Federal Reserve, recently 

withdrew her name in nomination for the job. Her action 

sent a clear message to the Fed that many U.S. senators are 

hostile to the idea that the central bank should allocate capital 

for certain politically charged endeavors --- and rightfully so.

What else could be done about Raskin, who is on record 

stating that the Fed should deny credit to companies 

that produce or consume fossil fuels (namely oil). 

Although she and her supporters, which include Sens. 

Elizabeth Warren, Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown,

all far-left wing Democrats, have sworn up and down that

she would never use her powers that way in this position,

It's all a load of blarney that must have gone nicely with 

the recent Saint Patrick's Day.

The Fed's dual mandate is to ensure full employment and 

stable prices. But the progressive wing of the Democrat

Party (which is practically the only wing of that party 

these days) wants her to use her powers in this position 

to promote and advance their items on their political wish

list. This would lead to the politicizing and the corruption 

of the Fed itself.

Republicans on the Senate banking Committee, led by their 

leader ranking member Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), voiced 

their concerns over Raskin's public stances on the afore-

mentioned issues. Raskin, you see, has written that financial

regulation should be used to "allocate capital and align 

portfolios toward sustainable investments that do not depend

on carbon and fossil fuels." Also, her husband, U.S. Rep.

Jamie Raskin (D-MD) didn't report her stock holdings in

Reserve Trust as required by congressional ethics rules ---

a major no-no. she made a cool $1.5 million selling those 

investment holdings after RT's Fed account was secured.

Toomey offered a deal to Banking Committee Democrats:

Republicans would vote to advance four less radical and

therefore less controversial Biden Fed nominees, out of

committee if the Dems would block Raskin. However, 

maverick Sen. Joe Masnchin (D-WV), who isn't on the

Banking Committee but has been a constant thorn in

the side of Senate Democrats for having voted against

Biden's Infrastructure monstrosity which would have cost

trillions of dollars to enact, announced that he would not 

back Raskin's nomination if it were brought before the 

entire Senate. This torpedoed Raskin's chances, slim though

they already were, of getting the plum position she had

hoped for, and was a huge victory for the GOP senators,

much of the credit going to Sen. Toomey for engineering

the derailment of Raskin's ascent. 

Raskin's defeat should make Fed Chairman Jerome Powell 

more confident to rebuff attempts by others on the Fed's 

Board of Governors to shape financial regulation to be a

means of battling climate change. Will President Biden 

learn from this episode? One hopes, but one doubts that

he will. He blamed Raskin's defeat on "baseless attacks 

from industry and conservative interest groups." When

he nominates another candidate, and that candidate has 

the same ideas and plans, what excuse will he offer for

that candidate's defeat? 

MEM