That Watchdog Won't Hunt

The Washington Post reports that Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) has released the details of his financial reform bill today.  One of its provisions would create a Financial Stability Oversight Council, consisting of the heads of existing financial watchdogs, which could recommend new regulations to the Federal Reserve to promote economic stability, but would not have any real power.  Below is a table showing the proposed composition of this toothless watchdog.

Member	Name	Photo	Appointed By	Confirmed By	Term
Secretary of the Treasury	Timothy Geithner		Barack Obama	Senate	Pleasure of the President
Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors	Ben Bernake		George W. Bush	Senate	Four Years
Comptroller of the Currency	John Dugan		George W. Bush	Senate	Five Years
Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision	John E. Bowman		Barack Obama	Senate	Five Years
Director of the Consumer Finance Protection Agency	Position Created by Financial Reform Bill	N/A	Barack Obama	Senate	Five Years
Chairman of the Securities Exchance Comission	Mary L. Schapiro		Barack Obama	Senate	Five Years
Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission	Gary Gensler		Barack Obama	Senate	Five Years
Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation	Sheila Bair		George W. Bush	Senate	Five Years
Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency	James B. Lockhart III		George W. Bush	Senate	Four Years

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