Trump’s Next Choice for the Fed Should Be … Boring
Ignore all the names being bandied about and focus on the actual requirements for the job.
Who’s next in line?
Photographer: Bloomberg/BloombergNow that Herman Cain has withdrawn from consideration for a post as a governor of the Federal Reserve, the question arises: Who will President Donald Trump nominate next? There are a lot of names being bandied about, but I thought it might be more useful to return to first principles and think through the requirements for the job.
First, we should not forget that the Federal Reserve system is actually a private corporation of sorts, albeit one with a unique government-backed charter. So if you are on the board of the Fed, you are not just a figurehead — you are responsible for parts of the company. You could be in charge of the Fed’s pension and benefit plans, for instance, or its payments system.