Bernie vs. the Fed

Bernie Sanders vows to curb Wall Street by purging Federal Reserve of bankers

His criticism of the rate hike may be apt but his suggested solution is nuts.

The senator for Vermont and foremost Democratic rival to leading candidate Hillary Clinton, argued that interest rates generally should not rise until unemployment is lower than 4%, instead of the 5% rate where it currently stands, in order not to choke off economic recovery.

He accused the central bank of being influenced by the big banks “and their supporters in Congress” as they warned repeatedly in recent years that “runaway inflation is just around the corner”.

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“If I were elected president, the foxes would no longer guard the henhouse,” he said.

In order to shake up the central bank’s governance system and appoint board members from “all walks of life” its directors should be nominated by the president and chosen by the US Senate, he said.