NY Fed stays undiversified...possibly more corrupt

Op-Ed

By Crystal Carter and The GreenLining Institute

Our economy collapsed because of corporate greed and malfeasance and we have just added two more greedy moguls to the mix. The New York Fed, an institution that is supposed to pursue maximum employment and to “support financial stability in the U.S. and abroad,” just named Jeffrey Kindler and James Tisch to fill their public interest positions. These two men had an estimated compensation of over $22 million dollars for the year of 2008; all while the people living at or under the poverty level was 37.3 million in 2007.

If success was measured by how much money you had then these men are successful but one must wonder why the Fed couldn’t find more qualified directors especially in light of the fact that communities of color have been hardest hit by the current economic crisis. For instance, while the national unemployment rate is 9.7 percent, African-American unemployment is 15 percent and Hispanic unemployment is at 13 percent, stated Chairman Edolphus Towns at a recent House Oversight and Government Reform meeting. With the addition of these two directors, there are only white board members and only one woman on this board.

We call on President Obama and his constituents to investigate this appointment, especially considering the controversial pasts of the New York Fed. Witnessing the resignation of Stephen Friedman because of a conflict of interest with Goldman Sachs, which he owned in the nineties. Also AIG awarding highly inappropriate bonuses to its executives after receiving over $180 billion in government bailout money is a wake up call that the NY Fed needs a lot of alterations.

Pfizer, under CEO Jefrrey Kindler, has a net income of $8.1 billion as of 2008. While receiving a 100% on the corporate equality index it has spent a lot of its earnings bribing people. This company has been sued at least four times in the past decade for off-label promotional practices and fraudulent promotion and bribery by paying medical providers to promote drugs for uses not approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

Loew’s Corporation’s President and chief executive officer, Tisch is busy pouring all of his company’s money into cigarette companys is in it for the money and obviously not about the American people’s health.

In addition, the Fed should adopt strict new rules that more adequately define the public interest that includes somebody with a proven track record of standing up for consumers’ and not on its own need to make a quick profit.