Democratic Lawmakers Say Fed Should Increase Its Diversity
Democratic Lawmakers Say Fed Should Increase Its Diversity
The predominantly white male composition of Federal Reserve leadership is facing criticism from Democratic elected...
The predominantly white male composition of Federal Reserve leadership is facing criticism from Democratic elected officials who believe the institution doesn’t adequately reflect the demographics of the nation it is meant to serve.
The legislators said in a letter to Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen on Thursday that central bank leaders also are drawn too frequently from business and financial backgrounds. The letter to Ms. Yellen received support from the leading Democratic candidate for the White House, Hillary Clinton.
Eleven senators and 116 members of the House of Representatives signed the letter, which was organized by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Rep. John Conyers Jr. of Michigan. No Republicans participated, although they were given the opportunity to do so.
“Given the critical linkage between monetary policy and the experiences of hardworking Americans, the importance of ensuring that such positions are filled by persons that reflect and represent the interests of our diverse country, cannot be understated,” the letter said. “When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected.”
While the Fed has made “some progress” on diversity issues, the central bank has “considerable work to do” to comply with its legal mandate to represent the interests and diversity of the American people, the letter said.
The Fed said in a statement that it “is committed to fostering diversity—by race, ethnicity, gender, and professional background—within its leadership ranks.” It added that when it comes to the members of the regional boards, “by law, we consider the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labor, and consumers. We also are aiming to increase ethnic and gender diversity.”
The Fed also cited a rise in both racial and gender diversity on the regional Fed boards, with 46% of all directors now meeting the label of “diverse.”
In February, Ms. Yellen also addressed the issue in testimony to Congress, saying officials in Washington are “constantly attentive in its oversight of the reserve banks to the issue of diversity of representation on those boards. And it has improved considerably.”
The legislators’ letter follows a report earlier in the year from the Center for Popular Democracy’s left-leaning Fed Up Coalition, which took a look at the Washington-based Fed governors, regional bank presidents and boards of directors overseeing the 12 regional banks. That report flagged the fact that even as the Fed is now led by a woman, three of five current governors are men, and all are white. Of the 12 regional Fed bank presidents, 11 are white, two are women, and one is Indian-American. The last black person to hold a top leadership role at the Fed was Roger Ferguson, a vice chairman who left in 2006.
Fed governors are nominated by the president and are subject to Senate approval. Regional Fed bank presidents are nominated by their local boards by members representing firms not regulated by the central bank, subject to the approval of the Fed board in Washington.
The Clinton campaign said the central bank is indeed ripe for change. “The Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole,” it said in a statement, adding that “commonsense reforms—like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks—are long overdue.”
Much of the criticism over Fed diversity centers on the make-up of the regional bank boards of directors, which are populated by members of the private sector and oversee the operations of the Fed banks.
The makeup of Fed bank president ranks has been criticized for other reasons as well. The leaders of the New York, Philadelphia, Dallas and Minneapolis branches have all worked for investment bank Goldman Sachs in some capacity.
The Federal Reserve in recent years has faced criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Many on the right have been angered by the central bank’s aggressive stimulus actions and its role in bailouts of the financial system, and some have wanted to audit the central bank’s process for making monetary policy and force the Fed to set policy based on an explicit and simple rule.
On the left, some have said the Fed has pursued policies that have promoted income inequality and the interests of the financial sector. The low level of diversity has become a more prominent concern in recent months in part because of the report from the Fed Up Coalition.
Meanwhile, former Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said in a blog post in January that a lack of black representation at the Fed appears to have left central bankers insufficiently attuned to the economic troubles of the African-American community.
The Fed has become an issue in the presidential campaign. Last week, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump said he likely would replace Ms. Yellen if he were president. On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has long been a critic of the Fed.
By MICHAEL S. DERBY
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Skinny Girl's CEO Bethenny Frankel charters multiple planes to bring supplies to Hurricane Maria survivors
Skinny Girl's CEO Bethenny Frankel charters multiple planes to bring supplies to Hurricane Maria survivors
Bethenny Frankel is turning the full force of her efforts on the disaster in Puerto Rico post Hurricane Maria. As...
Bethenny Frankel is turning the full force of her efforts on the disaster in Puerto Rico post Hurricane Maria. As reported by People, the Skinny Girl CEO, B Strong charity spearhead, mother, and Bravo reality star combined a Twitter crowdfunding campaign with her own resources to raise the money necessary to charter four planes full of water, canned goods, diapers, baby food, medical supplies, and more.
Read the full article here.
Peralta pushing to pass Carlos’ Law
“Citing a 2013 report by the Center for Popular Democracy, Peralta said that between 2003 and 2011, three out of four...
“Citing a 2013 report by the Center for Popular Democracy, Peralta said that between 2003 and 2011, three out of four victims in fatal construction accidents in the United State were immigrants or U.S.-born citizens of Latino heritage.“Among the cases investigated by [the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration] in New York state that number is 60 percent,” Peralta said. “In New York City it’s 74 percent. And in Queens it’s 88 percent.
Read the full article here.
Arizona's Minimum-Wage Initiative Saved by Political Consultant's Inheritance
Arizona's Minimum-Wage Initiative Saved by Political Consultant's Inheritance
The campaign manager for a group trying to raise Arizona's minimum wage said on Wednesday that the effort was helped...
The campaign manager for a group trying to raise Arizona's minimum wage said on Wednesday that the effort was helped considerably by his own timely loan of $100,000.
Bill Scheel is one of three founding partners of the public-relations and political-strategy firm Javelina, which Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families hired to run its campaign. The Phoenix-based firm got the job done in the form of Proposition 206, which will appear on the November 8 ballot.
Preliminary state campaign-finance records show that Bright Owl, a limited liability company of which Scheel is the sole member and manager, made a $100,000 contribution to the campaign on August 4.
Asked on Wednesday about the cash infusion, Scheel said the money is an interest-free loan, not a donation, and that it will be classified as such on the campaign's official pre-primary report, which is due to the state on Friday.
According to Scheel, the loan came in the nick of time to cover legal fees for an unexpected court challenge to the initiative, and was made possible by money he inherited after his parents died a few years ago.
"I couldn't think of a better way to honor their memory than to provide this loan, which has helped get our Healthy Working Families initiative on the ballot," he said.
If Arizona voters approve the measure, the state's minimum wage would go up to $10 an hour next year and rise to $12 in 2020.
But it almost didn't make the ballot. The Arizona Restaurant Association sued, claiming many of the petition gatherers hired by the campaign ineligible to collect signatures. The association wanted tens of thousands of signatures thrown out, potentially enough to knock the initiative off the ballot.
The campaign itself was in need of a raise.
Before Scheel's loan, the two largest payments to the campaign were a July 19 donation of $25,000 from the United Food and Commercial Workers union Region 8 States Council, and a May 12 donation of $25,000 from the California-based Fairness Project. Prior to that, records show, from January 1 to May 31, the effort was funded with $384,642 donated by the nonprofit activist group Living United for Change in Arizona, (LUCHA), which reportedly received money for the effort from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Popular Democracy.
During that same period in the first half of 2016, the group spent $337,975.59 on signature gatherers, printing services, and other expenses, including $3,000 in consulting fees paid to Tomas Robles, the campaign's chairman and LUCHA's executive director.
Scheel says the campaign pays his company $10,000 a month for campaign management, plus another $5,000 a month for communications, all of which is split by several people at Javelina.
On top of all those expenses came the legal bills for the lawsuit by the restaurant association.
"We didn't have money set aside for legal expenses," Scheel explained, adding that his loan was a "huge help" to the campaign. It was also a risk to put his own money on the line, he admitted.
"If the court had ruled against us last Friday, my $100,000 would be gone," he said. "Legal fees is basically what [the money] was spent on."
Arizona's Minimum-Wage Initiative Saved by Political Consultant's Inheritance
Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families
The group's tenacity, along with Scheel's inheritance money, paid off in the courtroom. Last week, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit because the association filed the complaint seven days after the signatures were submitted to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, exceeding the statutory limit of five days.
Now, the website for Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families lists Bright Owl as a major funding source, along with LUCHA, the UCFW, and the Fairness Project.
Scheel, who hasn't made any other contributions to the campaign, expects to be repaid out of donations that come in between now and November, he said.
"There will be future donations coming into the campaign from donors," he said. "About $1.5 million."
In response to questions from New Times, he said he hasn't made any deals with the unions and activist groups behind the campaign, nor does he expect anything in return other than repayment, if the group can manage it. His loan simply came at the right time and was a "huge help" to the legal effort that saved the initiative, he said.
"This really is a labor of love for me," Scheel said. "When I work on a campaign, I go all in. I want it to succeed."
By Ray Stern
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Will Another White Big-Banker Oversee Wall Street?
“Fed Up, a coalition of community and labor groups, argues in a new report that this homogeneity creates blind spots,...
“Fed Up, a coalition of community and labor groups, argues in a new report that this homogeneity creates blind spots, protecting financial institutions while neglecting those who are still struggling 10 years after the financial crisis struck. Fed Up was formed to highlight how central bankers neglect corners of the economy. Though the Fed is supposed to be independent of politics, its decisions affect everyone, especially vulnerable populations who need support. An economy run for banks, inattentive to black and brown families, will necessarily expand the wide wealth and income gaps. The New York Fed’s district also includes Puerto Rico, which is especially struggling of late.”
Read the full article here.
Editorial: Automatic signup gets more voters to polls
Among millennials, voter turnout in Illinois ranks 47th in the country, according to the political advocacy group...
Among millennials, voter turnout in Illinois ranks 47th in the country, according to the political advocacy group Common Cause. In the 2014 primary election, their turnout in Chicago wards was as low as 9 percent.
We don’t have to settle for such low numbers.
Illinois should look to Oregon and California, which recently approved automatic voter registration. Oregon did it in March and California OKd it just a week ago.
Under automatic voter registration, people are automatically registered when they get or update a driver’s license or state identification card. An opt-out provision is included for people who don’t want to register.
Illinois has 9.7 million residents who are eligible to vote, but 2.1 million of them are not registered, state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Decatur, said last week at a meeting of the Senate Executive Subcommittee.
Automatically adding unregistered people to the voting rolls could drive up voter turnout. It also would help county clerks by automatically updating voter addresses when people move and update their driver’s licenses. The Center for Popular Democracy estimates that nationwide automatic voter registration system would add 56 million voters to the rolls.
Cook County Clerk David Orr argues government has a responsibility to use technology to improve the voting process.
“Nowadays the burden should be on the government,” Orr says.
Exactly.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Labor Activists Applaud First Statewide ‘Fair Scheduling’ Law
Starting next summer, companies in Oregon will have to give workers at least seven days’ notice about when they’ll have...
Starting next summer, companies in Oregon will have to give workers at least seven days’ notice about when they’ll have to work, according to legislation signed Tuesday by Governor Kate Brown. A handful of major cities have passed “fair scheduling” laws, but Oregon is the first state to do so and the biggest victory on the issue so far for labor activists.
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Major Impact Seen from Mayor’s Carve-Out of Deportation Defense Program
Major Impact Seen from Mayor’s Carve-Out of Deportation Defense Program
When families are brought into the court-room at Varick Street Immigration Court, they see their loved ones seated side...
When families are brought into the court-room at Varick Street Immigration Court, they see their loved ones seated side-by-side on a bench with other detainees, clad in orange jumpsuits, hands shackled.
As those detainees are called one by one to have their cases heard, they are seated across the table from an attorney representing the Department of Homeland Security. DHS attorneys will be prepared with documentation and arguments meant to portray the detainee as a flight risk—someone liable to skip further hearings if released—and a danger to society. They will discuss prior convictions, residences, details on family members’ citizenship and criminal history.
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Paid Sick Leave, More Overtime Proposed For Mpls. Workers
The proposal would allow workers to know their schedules ahead of time and earn overtime if they work more than eight ...
The proposal would allow workers to know their schedules ahead of time and earn overtime if they work more than eight hours a day. It would affect all Minneapolis businesses with more than one employee.
The Minneapolis restaurant scene is one of flavor, variety and growth. It’s just a slice of the local business scene but one councilmember said that scenery needs some change.
“We’re hearing about gaps in the workplace that are disproportionately affecting low-wage workers, women and people of color,” councilmember Elizabeth Gladden said.
So she and a list of other city workers have drafted a plan. It would mean workers get their schedule a month out, they get paid sick leave and any shift over eight hours would mean overtime.
Christina Cortez has worked at McDonald’s for nine years. She said knowing her schedule 28 days out would be huge.
“Then I wouldn’t have to worry, Am I going to schedule my appointment or my baby’s appointment on the day I’m actually supposed to be at work?” she said.
A partner at Hell’s Kitchen said his employees don’t seem to need a month’s notice.
“[We’ve talked] to our servers about, What do you want?” Pat Forciea said. “Everybody kind of agreed on two weeks.”
Joe Elliot, father to 4-year-old Jamir said the sick leave is what excites him. He said he didn’t get any when he broke his hand,
“I had to debate [whether] to stay home and relax, like the doctor said, or lose my job,” Elliot said.
But change comes at a cost.
“Maybe businesses feel it’s just too expensive to do business in Minneapolis, so I’m instead going to open up my restaurant in Edina or I’m going to open it up in Bloomington,” he said.
But he said if it all passes, he’ll see it through.
“We want to do what’s right for the people who work here and their families,” he said.
A March report from the Department of Health found that the lack of paid sick leave in Minnesota workplaces has contributed to contagious disease outbreaks and actually added to employers’ health care expenses.
WCCO also spoke with a labor attorney. He said the paid sick leave and overtime seem like reasonable changes, but scheduling 28 days out is a bit extreme. He said 14 days out would be more practical.
The council hopes to vote on an ordinance by the end of the year.
Source: CBS Minnesota
Celebs, supporters of Dream Act face off with anti-DACA protesters
For many DREAMERS, or undocumented young immigrants fighting to stay in the country, their battle could depend a lot on...
For many DREAMERS, or undocumented young immigrants fighting to stay in the country, their battle could depend a lot on what happens in the next few weeks in Congress.
Supporters and protestors of those DREAMERS clashed in West LA Wednesday in front of Senator Feinstein's office.
Read the full article here.
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