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Saule Omarova says banks sank her chance to become a key regulator
- lettergram 5y agoRelevant context: https://nypost.com/2021/09/30/bidens-pick-for-treasury-post-sought-end-to-banking-as-we-know-it/ https://nypost.com/2021/09/30/bidens-pick-for-treasury-post-...
- Hokusai 5y ago> President Biden’s controversial pick to be the Treasury Department’s comptroller of the currency is a USSR-born and educated professor who has praised the former Soviet Union’s lack of a gender pay gap while recently advocating for ending banking “as we know it” by moving Americans’ finances from private banks to the Federal Reserve. It is related the praise of lack of pay gap and the suggested changes? The article seems to link both not explicitly but letting the reader to get to that conclusion. I hope that pay gap between genders is reduced and everybody gets a fair opportunity.
- alexnewman 5y agoThe idea that women are treated better in the USSR is insane. Please go visit Russia and tell me that. It's the most sexist developed society I've dealt with.
- david38 5y agoThey're not, but often, the wealthier the country, the more the difference in pay between men and women because women can simply get whatever job they're interested in without regard to the money. If you are in India or Russia, the difference between being a programmer vs local laborer is extreme, so anyone who can become a programmer (or similar high paying job for multi-national company) will. Thus, Russia and India have more female programmers (and similar) than the US.
- ivan_gammel 5y agoIt’s better to check statistic data. Gender pay gap existed in USSR, was comparable to the Western countries and didn’t go anywhere after 1991. Russia leaned to the right and became more socially conservative since then. It is indeed a very sexist society now.
- psyc 5y agoThe point isn't the pay gap part, it's the USSR part. They're trying to paint her as a communist.
- splitstud 5y agoWhich is silly without evidence I agree. So, with no experience what value does she have? There's nothing in her academic work that shows some outstanding quality. Is she in ideologue? If so, of what type?
- commiekillah2 5y ago[flagged]
- joejerryronnie 5y agoWell, she’s not a communist but her ideas about the federal government taking over and centrally directing all fiscal activities would make Hugo Chavez blush.
- WastingMyTime89 5y agoYou have to like such blatant partiality in the coverage: “USSR-born and educated”, the insistence on “ending banking as we know it” while waiting five paragraphs to actually explain it’s about splitting the lending activity from the management of people accounts and has nothing to do with the Soviet Union, the completely irrelevant quotation on the gender pay gap. I really like American media. They are so bad they make even the terrible ones in my country look half decent.
- jonstewart 5y agoThe NY Post is about as trustworthy of a source as the National Enquirer.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- gotoeleven 5y agomore context https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/toomey-on-professor-omarovas-refusal-to-turn-over-thesis-on-marxism-what-is-she-hiding https://www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/minority/toomey-on-p...
- fennecfoxen 5y agoContext in her own words, October 2021: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715735 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715735 "This Article... offers a blueprint for a comprehensive restructuring of the central bank balance sheet as the basis for redesigning the core architecture of modern finance. Focusing on the U.S. Federal Reserve System (the Fed), the Article outlines a series of structural reforms that would radically redefine the role of a central bank as the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a democratic economy—the People’s Ledger. On the liability side of the ledger, the Article envisions the complete migration of demand deposit accounts to the Fed’s balance sheet and explores the full range of new, more direct and flexible, monetary policy tools enabled by this shift. On the asset side, it advocates a comprehensive qualitative restructuring of the Fed’s investment portfolio, which would maximize its capacity to channel credit to productive uses in the nation’s economy." The Wall Street Journal described her as "a one-person systemic risk to the banking system" but directed readers, "Give Ms. Omarova credit for candor," for she was quite honest and open about her intentions in this area.
- ivan_gammel 5y agoThe part where she‘s being accused of being a communist is worth watching. America does not need enemies if it has senators like Kennedy.
- ivanech 5y agoIt's bad but it's not what sank her nomination. She's right - banks were afraid of her
- fennecfoxen 5y agoPretty much anyone to the economic-right of Bernie Sanders was afraid of her.
- commiekillah2 5y ago[flagged]
- redis_mlc 5y ago[dead]
- newaccount2021 5y agoShe was set up to fail by Biden
- pdq 5y agoBiden withdrew the nomination. Omarova had her chances to clarify her positions during testimony, and her own party did not have the votes to push her confirmation though.
- georgeoliver 5y ago> Yet Omarova said she was unable to express her views personally to many senators, as is usually the norm in confirmation hearings. She noted that despite making clear she was willing to meet with lawmakers as many times as needed, only one Republican senator, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming, met with her. Why do you think that might be?
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoTo me, that read like Senators could come to here one-on-one and talk. That's good to have that door open. But it's not like she was muzzled at the hearings. That's her main chance to express her views to the senators.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- BrazzVuvuzela 5y agoDemanding one-on-one meetings with senators? Seems like a failed power play.
- aaronbrethorst 5y agoOne-on-one meetings between Senators and nominees for Senate-confirmed positions is normal.
- BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago> Omarova said she was unable to express her views personally to many senators, as is usually the norm in confirmation hearings. This context is important. Refusing to meet senators on their terms while demanding they meet you on yours seems like a power play.
- notsureaboutpg 5y agoYes, they did, but the whole point of politics is that you can be more convincing than your opponents...
- yholio 5y agoOmarova suggested the central bank could offer bank accounts to everyday Americans, which would represent a dramatic departure from the way the banking system is currently set up. Enthusiastically this! The payment system is essential infrastructure, with the demise of cash it will become effectively impossible to function in society without access to banking. Meanwhile, this service is provided by for profit agents that can deny your business for no reason and rely on an arcane industry of background checks and trafficked personal data to select their clientele. Mind you, I'm talking about free payment services, the process of receiving and sending money, and a possible free debit payment network operated by the government, that guarantees service to anyone. If you need credit, you go to a bank, they can and should make money out of this, not by simply forming a payment cartel extracting rent from all businesses and citizens.
- mythrwy 5y agoYou bring up a good point about private services suddenly being able to cut people off from banking. But if governments had that power what might happen?
- dv_dt 5y agoThen people could choose. The choice cuts both ways by providing a pragmatic path for government market constraint as an alternative to the cat and mouse games of exquisitely intricate regulations.
- nicoburns 5y agoIt would be subject to a lot more scrutiny and due process?
- xvedejas 5y agoI'm not sure how to figure out which situation results in more scrutiny and due process. I can buy that private corporations are under-policed, but I'm not sure the government would police itself either. Maybe the best is a kind of adversarial relationship between the public and private entities? Anyone know of compelling studies on what ultimately is best practice for compliance?
- AnimalMuppet 5y ago> "ICBA and state community banking associations took the rare step of publicly opposing – in a detailed letter – a prudential banking regulator nominee because of Professor Omarova's published scholarship and public statements advocating government allocation of capital and credit, 'fully replacing' private bank deposits, and 'ending banking as we know it'-which would displace community banks, local communities, and small businesses," it said. If that's accurate, then I would expect them to use that to sink her chances, and I would consider it perfectly fair and reasonable for them to do so. On the other hand, we have her claiming that they were distorting her record. So, did she say those things, or not? If she did, did she mean them, or not?
- twblalock 5y agoA lot of her views seem to be pretty close to advocacy of central planning for the financial system, e.g. her proposal for a National Investment Authority: https://prospect.org/economy/public-investment-reimagined-a-national-investment-authority/ https://prospect.org/economy/public-investment-reimagined-a-... Read through the article and you'll see, for example, she wants the NIA to invest in private companies in order to obtain voting rights to control those companies. The smear of "communism" is a cheap shot that was pretty easy to make because of her background, but frankly her views end up coming pretty close to central planning, and that also makes it easy to accuse someone of being a communist.
- seibelj 5y ago> Ms. Omarova wants to put an “‘end to banking’ as we know it”—again, her words—and transfer private banking functions to the Federal Reserve, where accounts would “fully replace” private bank deposits. The Fed would control “systemically important prices” for fuel, food, raw materials, metals, natural resources, home prices and wages. > She says the Fed should be remade into what she calls “The People’s Ledger.” By “the people” she means progressive elites like her. She calls for “reimagining” the role of central banks “as the ultimate public platform for generating, modulating, and allocating financial resources in a modern economy.” https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-regulator-who-hates-banks-saule-omarova-socialist-central-bank-11635101487?mod=article_inline https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-regulator-who-hates-banks-sau... Maybe she was a bit too radical for such an important post?
- _jal 5y ago> she means progressive elites like her Funny, all the "reporting" mentioned here seems to come from NewsCorp properties. And is "reporting" like the above. I'm not defending her, I'd honestly like to know more. But I'd like to read it from a trustworthy source. Especially considering how much bullshit redbaiting is going on around this - you get that when they don't have anything better to throw.
- fennecfoxen 5y agoRead it for yourself, then. "The People's Ledger" were her words, not the Journal's. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715735 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715735
- acomjean 5y ago“The People’s Ledger.”... sounds like blockchain to me
- ohCh6zos 5y agoI think history has shown one should get jumpy about anyone who throws around “The people’s $x”.
- beervirus 5y ago> Most senators condemned her because Omarova has proposed nationalizing the American financial system, empowering the Federal Reserve to take over consumer deposits, and “effectively end[ing] banking, as we know it.” It is Omarova who proposed a “National Investment Authority,” a nomenklatura that would redistribute your money into a “big and bold” climate agenda. This, after she recommended that states bankrupt private energy companies so we can “basically get rid of these carbon financiers” by “starv[ing] them of their source of capital.” The woman wrote a paper titled “The People’s Ledger” last year. Then, there is Omarova’s pernicious defense of the USSR’s lack of “a gender pay gap.” >Omarova is free to kick around theories with her “Marxist Analysis and Policy” Facebook group, but she’s not afforded any special dispensation allowing her to avoid answering for her positions and past comments. Senator John Kennedy brought up her memberships and academic work in the Soviet Union to argue that she hadn’t changed her position today, not that she is bonded to them forever. If you don’t want your nominees to be referred to as “comrade,” don’t nominate socialists who praise the Soviet Union. https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/sorry-omarovas-soviet-birth-is-not-what-sunk-her-nomination/ https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/sorry-omarovas-soviet-...
- selimthegrim 5y agoJohn Kennedy, or as we like to call him here in New Orleans, Foghorn Leghorn, has never met a foreign origin person he doesn’t want to throw to the dogs as red meat for the cameras.
- BrazzVuvuzela 5y agoThat's not a very compelling refutation to the claims you're responding to.
- beervirus 5y agoDid you actually read what you were responding to?
- selimthegrim 5y agoI did. Kennedy doesn’t care about the timeframe of the Soviet bit. He just wants a five second soundbite for his constituents. If he was talking to Bernie he’d bring up his honeymoon too. I’m also not a National Review subscriber so I can’t read the whole thing. Also as another commenter points out the government can already control access to private banking like a spigot quite well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29559738 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29559738
- splitstud 5y agoWhat no one seems to be asking is why was she nominated in the first place? The list of more qualified candidates numbers in the thousands.
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago> list of more qualified candidates There is a vocal section of the Senate that views experience as a disqualifier. Particularly for finance. This might have been a trial balloon. It might have been part of a broader deal that fell through. It might be a red herring.
- splitstud 5y agoMaybe that's it, thanks
- malandrew 5y agoWell, this is an administration that has proposed monitoring any transaction $600 or greater, which is a massive departure from the $10,000 limit. A proposal like hers for a government issued bank account falls right into the federal surveillance state insofar as everyone's finances are concerned. There's no better way to erode 4th amendment protections for your finances than a federally issued bank account. It's not an unreasonable slippery slope to imagine that such an account would eventually morph to the point (1) where many or most of your counter parties are using the federal bank account meaning that they know about most of the transactions occurring in private accounts, and (2) where merely using a non federal account they have access to could be maligned as suspicious. There's no direction these proposals head that don't result in more tyranny from a federal government that we have increasingly less representation and oversight over.
- joejerryronnie 5y agoI’ve asked myself this about many Biden appointees. He seems to be using identity politics to select political appointees rather than any sort of experience or qualifications.
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- alexnewman 5y agoShe was nominated because they knew she would have no chance. Now a moderate can be put forth and Biden can blame the donkeys
- weflkjljkerg 5y ago[flagged]
- weflkjljkerg 5y agoI don't think you should be able to run for public office at all if you are a first generation immigrant. We don't allow it for president and we shouldn't allow it for any other office either. These people need to understand why America is the way it is first.
- weflkjljkerg 5y ago[flagged]
- rkk3 5y agoBesides being a good clickbait headline, not clear to me what supports that opinion or conclusion. Just a contentious and personal nomination process?
- pineconewarrior 5y agoFurthermore, does this belong here at all?
- fennecfoxen 5y agoWell, the banks certainly tried to sink her nomination, as her policy positions called for the nationalization of all banking. Here's the Independent Community Bankers of America letter, for instance: https://www.icba.org/docs/default-source/icba/advocacy-documents/letters-to-congress/joint-letter-opposing-occ-nomination https://www.icba.org/docs/default-source/icba/advocacy-docum...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- sakopov 5y ago> A 2020 article [2] written by Omarova that suggests the need for a government-controlled “people’s ledger” that would “end banking as we know it” has caused further friction over her nomination, with some reports suggesting that moderate Democrats may oppose her appointment. [1] "People's ledger" controlled by government. Love it. [1] https://www.rferl.org/a/saule-omarova-biden-soviet-union-comptroller/31524305.html https://www.rferl.org/a/saule-omarova-biden-soviet-union-com... [2] https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715735 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3715735
- samspenc 5y agoI think her own words about this proposal (government banking) sunk her nomination faster than any banks or opponents could have. Basically it came under friendly fire that she initiated herself.
- commiekillah2 5y agoPeople like Saule should have their citizenship stripped from them and deported immediately.
- commiekillah2 5y agoI wonder how much Biden knows what is going on at any given time considering he appears completely brain dead or drugged most of the time. Who actually is running the White House right now?
- GoodJokes 5y ago[dead]
- metabagel 5y agoI doubt the politicians who railed against Omarova understood her proposed changes to the Fed. Only a single Republican agreed to meet with her so she could explain her ideas. I looked at her paper, and it's dense and (at least for me) hard to read. Her ideas may be good, and they may be bad. But, I personally don't feel qualified to make a judgement one way or the other. It's not my field of expertise.
- RickJWagner 5y agoNPR once again provides a balanced, fair piece of journalism. Except they forgot to mention things like she harbors deep animosity towards the finance industry and has called it ‘a quintessential a—hole industry’. They also forget to mention that she's said cryptocurrencies benefits the “dysfunctional financial system we already have” and could destabilize the economy, etc. [1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bidens-banking-watchdog-pick-once-called-finance-a-quintessential-ahole-industry-11635352230 https://www.marketwatch.com/story/bidens-banking-watchdog-pi...