Via Atrios, Bush appointments to the Fed:
Bush's nomination of the 35-year-old White House aide -- a lawyer by training who would become one of only two members of the Fed's seven-member board of governors without a Ph.D. in economics -- has been greeted by criticism and bewilderment by some former Fed officials and economists. They point to his political connections and inexperience, and say the White House could have found a better-known, more qualified choice.
``Kevin Warsh is not a good idea,'' said former Fed Vice Chairman Preston Martin, who was appointed by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1982. ``If I were on the Senate Banking Committee,'' which must approve Fed nominees, ``I would vote against him.''
``The Warsh nomination came out of left field,'' said Tom Schlesinger, executive director of the Financial Markets Center, a Howardsville, Virginia-based group that monitors the Fed.
The nomination of Warsh, who has been executive secretary of the president's National Economic Council, was one of two that Bush made on Jan. 27 to fill vacancies on the Fed. The other nominee, Randall Kroszner, 43, is a University of Chicago professor and a former Fed visiting scholar with a doctorate in economics from Harvard University.
No comment. Just, no comment.
Posted by binky at February 13, 2006 02:22 PM | TrackBack | Posted to EconomicsThe War on Expertise (or, gulp, Competency) continues.
Posted by: Moon at February 13, 2006 05:46 PM | PERMALINKIt just... boggles. What (if anything) are they thinking?
Posted by: jacflash at February 13, 2006 06:51 PM | PERMALINKThe War on Competency - nice one. Though I would gone with the War on Competence.
Posted by: Armand at February 13, 2006 08:37 PM | PERMALINKHe was approved by the Senate by a voice vote and his term on the Fed doesn't end until 2018.
Am I the only person perplexed why not even one Democrat pushed for a recorded vote on this nomination?
Posted by: Armand at February 28, 2006 09:30 PM | PERMALINK