A Michael Langenmayr, Daily Kos email of 29 July 2013 provided information for this article.
The Federal Reserve will celebrate its Centennial year in 2014. In those 100 years, only 14 people, all white males, have held the position of Chair. Current Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s term expires in early 2014, and President Obama has indicated that he will not renominate him to another term.
“About a third of the Senate’s Democrats have signed a letter urging President Obama to appoint the eminently qualified Janet Yellen (http://tinyurl.com/mulkgqy) as chair of the Federal Reserve. [She has been the Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve since October 2010.] The letter reportedly does not mention arry Summers [another candidate being considered], but it’s clear that he is the unpalatable alternative spurring the senators to campaign for Yellen:
There’s a lot of concern among a lot of Democrats about an appointment of Larry Summers to that long-term position as Fed chairman,’ said Sen. Tom Harkin (D, IA), who signed the letter. ‘He was one of the architects of getting rid of Glass-Steagall, of getting rid of other regulations.’
“Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D, CA.) said she had signed the letter, as did Sen. Angus King, an Independent from Maine, who described Ms. Yellen as an ‘excellent candidate’ with ‘a strong track record.’
“Sen. Dick Durbin (D, IL), the assistant majority leader, also confirmed the existence of the letter and said he also had signed it. He said the letter was being circulated by Sen. Sherrod Brown, a liberal Democrat from Ohio.”
You can get more information and join in asking President Obama to name Janet Yellen as the next Federal Reserve Chair at http://tinyurl.com/kewopc9. You can read more about Janet Yellen and why she is a better choice than Larry Summers at http://tinyurl.com/janyel.
