The system of government in the U.S. has historically been one of checks and balances. Provide examples of these checks and balances as they pertain to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and their relationship to the executive and legislative branches of government.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The U.S president selects the individuals to fill the roles of governors; however, the U.S. senate confirms these appointments. This offsets the potential problem of the president appointing someone who may be incompetent. To offset the potential problem of a president seeking to stack the board during his term, the governor's terms are long, fourteen years, and they are staggered, with each term expiring every two years. Congress does maintain control over the board in the sense that they ultimately can alter the Federal Reserve Act to significantly reduce the size and/or power of the board. Having pointed these out, however, it should also be noted that the Board does operate with a lot of autonomy, which is by design. The Fed is given the autonomy to serve the nation's best interest, free of excessive political intervention coming from either the President or Congress and free of the pressures that come from having to serve an electorate.