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Bair, S

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The Women Who Were Right About the Economy

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bigthink

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Who could have saved us from the global financial crisis? In a word, women.The release of the Federal Reserve’s transcripts of policymaking meetings up to 2007 has shed new light on the machinations inside the central bank as the Great Recession dawned. One member of the Board of Governorscast in a positive light is Janet Yellen, the vice-chair, who saw the potential for trouble in the shadow banking system. She isn’t the only woman who might have done a better job than the man who outranked her:

Brooksley Born. The formerchair of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission warned that the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000 could lead to excesses in the derivatives markets. The act eliminated most monitoring and regulation of the over-the-counter derivatives market where the subprime loan crisis exploded. But Born was overruled by Larry Summers, the Treasury secretary, and President Bill Clinton signed it into law.

Alice Rivlin. As vice-chair of the Board of Governors and a possible successor to Alan Greenspan as chair, her resignation in 1999, just as the Fed began to raise interest rates for the first time in four years, came as a surprise. Her view of monetary policy the late 1990s suggests she correctly perceived the global economy as more fragile than Greenspan did; the markets’ crash in 2000 soon forced him to reverse course. She later criticized Greenspan for endorsing the 2001 Bush tax cuts, which ended up casting the nation into deep deficits.

Sheila Bair. She chaired the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation before, during, and after the financial crisis. A strong believer in aiding consumers more and big banks less, she dissented from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s view that bailing out big banks – some of which she said didn’t need the help – was the best way to get the economy back on its feet. She argued for more accountability, but she lost; the big banks got their money, with few strings attached.

Christina Romer. The first chair of President Barak Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers wanted a much bigger stimulus package than the one he eventually proposed to Congress in 2009 - $1.8 trillion rather than about $900 billion. But before Obama even saw the plan, Summers, who was director of the National Economic Council, persuaded her to water it down to $1.2 trillion. The shortcomings of the initial package led Obama to pursue additional stimulus, an effort largely stymied by the Republicans in the Congress. 

Would we be better off today if these women had held the top jobs in economic policy rather than the men who steamrolled them? There’s no way to know for sure, but my guess is that, in at least a few cases, the answer is yes.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Bair

Sheila Colleen Bair[1] (born April 3, 1954)[2] will take office on August 1, 2015 as the 28th president of Washington College. Previously, she served as the 19th Chairperson of the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).[3] She was appointed to the post for a five-year term on June 26, 2006 by George W. Bush. Bair served as a member of the FDIC Board of Directors through July 8, 2011.[4]

Early life

Bair is a native of Independence, Kansas. Her father, Albert, was a surgeon. Her mother, Clara, was a nurse and housewife. She received her bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Kansas in 1975,[5] and worked as a bank teller for a brief period, before receiving a J.D. from the University of Kansas School of Law in 1978. In 1981, she was recruited by Senator Bob Dole, a Republican from her state, to serve as counsel on his staff in Washington.

Career

Prior to her appointment at the FDIC, Bair was the Dean's Professor of Financial Regulatory Policy for the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a post she had held since 2002. She also served as Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2001 to 2002), Senior Vice President for Government Relations of the New York Stock Exchange (1995 to 2000), a Commissioner and Acting Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (1991 to 1995), and Research Director, Deputy Counsel and Counsel to Kansas Republican Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (1981 to 1988). While an academic, Bair also served on the FDIC's Advisory Committee on Banking Policy. Bair also pursued a seat in the U.S. Congress (she lost the 1990 Republicannomination in the 5th Kansas district by 760 votes to Dick Nichols).[6] Bair began her career in the General Counsel's office of the former U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.[7]

Bair left the FDIC on July 8, 2011, when her five-year term expired.[8][9] She became a senior advisor to The Pew Charitable Trusts in August 2011.[10] She is chair of theSystemic Risk Council, a volunteer effort formed by the CFA Institute and the Pew Charitable Trusts to monitor and comment on regulation.[11] Bull by the Horns: Fighting to Save Main Street from Wall Street and Wall Street from Itself was published Sept. 25, 2012. Bair has also written two books for children that encourage savings: Rock, Brock and the Savings Shock (2006) and Isabel's Car Wash (2008). Bair joined the board of Banco Santander in January 2014, even though she has been a critic of revolving door.[12]

Bair is married to Scott P. Cooper and has two children, Preston and Colleen. -->

On May 6, 2015 Bair was introduced as president of Washington College in Chestertown, MD

2008 financial crisis

Bair assumed a prominent role in the government’s response to the crisis, including bolstering public confidence and system stability that resulted in no runs on bank deposits. The FDIC did not turn to taxpayer borrowing to manage its losses and liquidity needs, instead funding them through its traditional means of assessing banks for the cost of insuring their deposits. The FDIC’s resolution practice of selling failing banks to healthier institutions, while providing credit support of future losses from failed banks’ troubled loans, saved the FDIC’s Deposit Insurance Fund $40 billion over losses it would have incurred if the FDIC had liquidated those banks.[citation needed]

During the congressional effort to reform the financial regulatory system, Bair successfully pushed to establish tools to end the doctrine of “too big to fail” by extending the FDIC’s resolution process to large, systemically-important financial institutions. The FDIC was also given joint authority to order the restructuring of an entity that cannot demonstrate, through a continually-monitored “living will,” that it can be unwound.[citation needed]

Bair is active on the international front, and pressed the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision to adopt strong capital and leverage standards.[13]

In a fictional TV movie about the crises, Patricia Randell played Bair in the 2011 HBO movie Too Big to Fail, based on the popular book of the same name by New York Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Reputation

In 2009, Bair was named one of Time magazine’s “Time 100” most influential people. In 2008, Bair topped The Wall Street Journal’s annual 50 “Women to Watch List.” In 2008 and 2009, Forbes ranked her as the second most powerful woman in the world behind German chancellor Angela Merkel. Forbes described her FDIC office as "the last stop for capital-starved banks (and their insured customers) before going under."[14]

Awards

Bair has received many awards, including the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award and Hubert H. Humphrey Civil Rights Award.[15]

In 2009, Bair was presented the Consumer Federation of America's Philip Hart Public Service Award.[16]

On March 29, 2012 Bair was honored by the Romney Institute of Public Management (BYU Marriott School of Management) as the Administrator of the Year.[17][18]

Publications

References

  1. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Presidential Nomination: Sheila Colleen Bair". The White House website via Archives.gov. 2006-05-01. Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  2. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Howard, Theresa (2008-10-03). "FDIC's Bair emerges as key player in bank rescues". USA Today.
  3. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "FDIC: Board of Directors & Senior Executives". Fdic.gov. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
  4. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "FDIC: Board of Directors & Senior Executives". FDIC. Retrieved 9 July 2011.
  5. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Bair, Sheila C.". Current Biography Yearbook 2010. Ipswich, MA: H.W. Wilson. 2010. pp. 23–26.ISBN 9780824211134.
  6. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Cope, Debra; James Swann (October 2006). "Full plate, Open mind: Meet FDIC chairman Sheila Bair".Community Banker. Retrieved 02-01-2009. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)[dead link]
  7. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "FDIC: Tapping the Unbanked Market: Helping People Enter the Financial Mainstream". Fdic.gov. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
  8. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Nocera, Joe (July 9, 2011). "Sheila Bair's Bank Shot". New York Times Magazine.
  9. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair leaving agency". USA Today. 2011-05-09.
  10. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ The Pew Charitable Trusts (2011). Former FDIC Chair Sheila C. Bair to Join Pew as Senior Advisor. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
  11. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Former FDIC Chair to Lead Systemic Risk Council". 2012-06-06.
  12. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ William Alden (January 27, 2014). "Bair, Critic of the Revolving Door, Joins Board of Santander". New York Times. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
  13. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ Basel Committee said to consider 3% surcharse on biggest banks
  14. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Forbes Most Powerful Women #2 Shelia C. Bair". Forbes.com. August 27, 2008. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  15. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "FDIC chair Sheila Bair to give 2010 Dole Lecture - KU News". University of Kansas. Retrieved 2010-10-17.
  16. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Thirty-Ninth Annual Awards Dinner" (PDF). Consumer Federation of America. June 17, 2009. Retrieved2013-01-21. (hard to view)
  17. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "BYU MPA Administrator of the Year". mpa.byu.edu. Retrieved 2012-03-30.
  18. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:^ "Administrator of the Year and Graduation Banquet". mpaa.byu.edu. Retrieved 2012-03-30.

External links

Political officesPolitical officesPolitical offices

Preceded by

:{William Albrecht

Acting}:

Chairperson of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Acting

1993

Succeeded by

:{Barbara Holum

Acting}:

Preceded by

Richard Carnell

Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets

2001–2002

Succeeded by

Wayne Abernathy

Preceded by

:{Martin Gruenberg

Acting}:

Chairperson of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

2006–2011

Succeeded by

Martin Gruenberg
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