http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/10/21-0Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Thursday unveiled a dozen economists he has tapped to help draft a plan to overhaul the Federal Reserve he says is "riddled" with conflicts of interest, among other problems.
Headlining the group are Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner and former top adviser to President Clinton, and Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute and special adviser to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
Other economists agreeing to offer their recommendations include Lawrence Mischel, the president of the Economic Policy Institute; Nomi Prins, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearns; and Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
The outspoken senator announced Wednesday he would be consulting economists as he put together legislation to overhaul the Fed, which he has long complained is opaque and overly beholden to the financial industry. He has been particularly critical of the Fed's actions during and after the financial crisis, as it loaned out trillions to financial institutions — including some whose top executives also sit on boards of Federal Reserve banks.
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