2 Assailed Fed Bank Presidents Stepping Down

hank

Both of these gents have come under fire recently for trades they made while serving on the Federal Reserve. As Barron’s Randall Forsyth noted a couple weeks ago, it’s easier to succeed in investing if you happen to be “in the room where it happens.” This is interesting. Now starts the hunt for replacements. If you think the Federal Reserve has an effect on your investments, this is a story worth following.

Robert Kaplan’s afternoon announcement followed closely on the heels of Eric Rosengren‘s announcement this morning.

Story

BaluBalu

The Fed has designated blackout periods and a no buy list. These guys did not violate any of those. I have not looked at their filings to see if the hype in the media was warranted or it was just an outrage in pursuit of click baits. To be clear, I do not blame the media - they just feed us what the people want to eat. We should tighten rules for all public servants, especially for politicians, and not rely on ethics and personal judgements, and when people violate rules the corresponding punishment should be unequivocal but expecting public servants to follow the moods of the populace guarantees attracting a lower level of talent for public service.

P.S.: I remember reading Janet Yellen filings when she was at the FED and she had invested only in OEFs / ETFs. May be that is what they should mandate across the Fed Res system re personnel investing in publicly traded securities. I am sure they will come up with standards that would be more stringent than what the political class applies to itself.