Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders said Wednesday that if he wins the White House, he’d kick the bankers off the board of the Federal Reserve in an effort to end the financial industry’s control over the agency that’s supposed to be regulating banks.
“Unfortunately, an institution that was created to serve all Americans has been hijacked by the very bankers it regulates,” he wrote in an op-ed for the New York Times.
“We would not tolerate the head of Exxon Mobil running the Environmental Protection Agency,” he wrote. “We don’t allow the Federal Communications Commission to be dominated by Verizon executives. And we should not allow big bank executives to serve on the boards of the main agency in charge of regulating financial institutions.”
Sanders says the Fed should be focused on helping small businesses, but is instead a slave to what big banks want. For example, he says, the Fed’s decision to raise rates for the first time in years is something the big banks wanted, but will hurt small companies.
“Raising interest rates now is a disaster for small business owners who need loans to hire more workers and Americans who need more jobs and higher wages,” he wrote. “As a rule, the Fed should not raise interest rates until unemployment is lower than 4 percent.”
To fix the problem, Sanders would fill the Fed’s Board of Governors with non-bankers, including people representing labor and small companies.
“Board positions should instead include representatives from all walks of life — including labor, consumers, homeowners, urban residents, farmers and small businesses,” he said.
“The sad reality is that the Federal Reserve doesn’t regulate Wall Street; Wall Street regulates the Fed,” he wrote. “It’s time to make banking work for the productive economy and for all Americans, not just a handful of wealthy speculators.”
