Some survivors of the Soviet Union saw its mistakes as learnings that were not easily repeated. However, Saule Omarova was not President Joe Biden’s choice for currency comptroller.
Omarova was born in Kazakh Soviet Socialist republic. You might have expected her to be cautious about the way state power can affect markets for consumers’ benefit. The Cornell professor of law is more concerned with the latter. tweetsThings like, “Say what your heart desires about Soviet Union. But there wasn’t a gender pay gap.” “Market doesn’t always have the right answer. That claim is defended by Sheri, who noted that wages were set by government officials and that maternity benefit were always generous.
It’s so nice to see that communism doesn’t degrade either gender equally. The idea of preventing people from getting paid for work done in quality across eleven timezones doesn’t sound like the recipe for a developed, productive economy. This gaffe was not an isolated incident. Omarova is really determined to increase state power to the Soviet standard, even if it’s not fully so.
Omarova has some of the most innovative ideas in academic circles. She proposes that the Federal Reserve be able to manage consumer deposits and take away banks’ power. Notes Omarova: “Having Americans deposit their money at Fed would enable the central bank more effectively and directly pull the levers in monetary policy, allowing it to credit individuals’ accounts whenever there is a need.” Politico
Rob Nichols of the American Bankers Association has stated that these policies will “effectively nationize America’s community bank,” according to The New York Times. Omarova agrees with the statement that she wants to “eliminate the banks she is being appointed to supervise”. Wall Street Journal Editor’s board. Groups representing both big and small banks, including the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and the Independent Community Bankers of America, have reached out to more moderate Democrats to lodge their opposition to the pick—a ballsy move, given that she may end up passing down the rules that these associations’ members must later comply with.
She said, “Remember that the big banks are always against regulation because they claim to lend to Main Street.” tweetedIn July, together with a quote in an accompanying article: JPMorgan and Citi now lend more to a few ultra-high net wealth clients than their credit card millions. Note that JPMorgan Bank and Citi Bank still lend to Main Street. As many recent Trump picks, she also declared herself to be a cryptocurrency foe. This is because digital currencies can’t be tied into the real economy. Funnyly, Joe Biden sees her nominating as a safe choice to placate moderates since she was a member of George W. Bush’s administration.
Omarova’s academic writings do not give currency accountants the ability to perform all of the tasks she has mentioned. However, dumb tweets can be just as disqualifying. Libertarians should take note of Omarova’s apparent hostility towards markets combined with the belief that the Federal Reserve needs to be more prominent.