Yellen meets with activists seeking Fed reforms
Updated 1:41 pm, Friday, November 14, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) - A coalition of community groups and labor unions are 'fed up' with the Federal Reserve.
More than two dozen activists demonstrated outside Fed headquarters and then met with Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Friday as part of a new campaign seeking policy reforms and a commitment to keeping interest rates low until good jobs are plentiful for all workers. Although the labor market has steadily strengthened this year, wages have remained stagnant.
During the hour-long discussion with Yellen and three other Fed board members, coalition representatives discussed problems their communities were facing with high unemployment and weak wage growth.
Ady Barkan, one of the organizers of 'Fed Up: The National Campaign for a Strong Economy,' says Yellen and the other Fed officials listened but made no commitments about future Fed policy.
'It was a very good conversation,' said Barkan, an attorney with the Center for Popular Democracy in Brooklyn. 'They listened very intently, and they asked meaningful follow-up questions.'
Fed officials confirmed that the meeting took place but declined to comment on the issues raised at the meeting.
In addition to Yellen, the Fed officials who took part in the meeting were Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer and Fed board members Jerome Powell and Lael Brainard.
Members of the coalition said about half of the meeting was taken up by their members telling stories about the difficulty in finding jobs, particularly in disadvantaged groups and communities dealing with unemployment much higher than the 5.8 percent national average.
The Fed officials also were presented a petition signed by 5,000 people around the country urging the central bank to keep interest rates low until the country reaches full employment.
The group also pushed for a more open process in the selection of presidents of the Fed's 12 regional banks. They say the current process is too secretive and dominated by officials from banks and other businesses with little input from the public. The regional presidents, along with Fed board members in Washington, participate in the deliberations to set interest rates.
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