Current Business

Current business news has been occupied with the specter of allegations of and concerns raised over the possibility of impropriety on the part of a major player in the United States economy, Stephen Friedman, who until 2009 was chairman of the New York Federal Reserve. This item of daily business news has arisen over reports on Friedman’s relationship with the prominent Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, and has also impinged on Ben Bernanke, chairman of the general United States Federal Reserve. In a move that has current business news abuzz, Bernanke has been asked by a House committee to turn over documents that might shed light on Friedman’s decision to buy shares in Goldman Sach’s stock while he was still acting as chairman of the New York Fed. In a statement released to daily business news, the chairman of the House’s Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Representative Edolphus Towns, announced the discovery made by him and his colleagues that Friedman bought stock valued at an amount more than $1 million in Goldman Sachs. In his statement, Towns noted that Friedman’s action “raises serious questions about transparency, fairness and the appearance of a cozy relationship between Wall Street and the government.” Current business news is closely following the progress of this issue and its implications for the careers of Friedman and Goldman Sach’s relationship with government regulatory agencies.
According to daily business news, the controversial stock purchase occurred in December 2008 and January 2009. This current business news issue is not necessarily limited to actions taken by Friedman, since a letter sent by Towns and fellow committee member Representative Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts to Ben Bernanke requesting information on Friedman’s stock purchase also asked for copies of records stretching back 10 years back of requests for waivers over stock purchases made by members of regional Fed boards. Daily business news has been most avidly following Friedman’s part in this issue, not only because of his prominence in the Fed’s power structure but also due to the coinciding of his actions with the process of conversion of Goldman Sachs to a bank-holding company in 2008, an alteration which placed the financial firm under the direct control of the New York Fed. Adding to the controversy of this issue, Goldman Sachs was also positively impacted by the decision made by the Fed at the time to bail out the insurance company American International Group, Inc. in order to help it pay off its bank loans.

Before this emergence of the issue of Friedman’s conduct as head of the New York Fed into daily business news, concerns had arisen following a report by The Wall Street Journal on his actions taken during Goldman Sachs’ transition process, which led to him stepping down as head of the regulatory agency. Current business news coverage of the findings on Friedman’s financial decisions will likely not be resolved by this past action, but continue to follow his actions to determine whether government actions were improperly guided by him.