JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon is leaving the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Sen. Bernie Sanders sees it as an opportunity to reintroduce legislation to prevent financial industry executives from sitting on the 12 regional Fed boards of directors. On Sanders’ official Senate website he states: “Jamie Dimon was the poster child for why we need to end the serious conflicts of interest at the Fed, but he was not alone. Two-thirds of the directors at the New York Fed are hand-picked by the same bankers that the Fed is in charge of regulating. Allowing Wall Street CEOs to serve as Federal Reserve directors and hand-pick its members and staff is a clear example of the fox guarding the henhouse.”
A Government Accountability Office study released in 2011 found that allowing members of the banking industry to both elect and serve on the Federal Reserve’s board of directors creates “an appearance of a conflict of interest.” A similar study found that children left in charge of the classroom repeatedly voted against homework.