WE NEED MORE THAN A SIMPLE PLEDGE

(h/t DougJ at Balloon Juice)

Remember how Defense Dept. officials used to get lucrative jobs with defense firms after they left the Dept? Remember that there's now a law against immediately doing that?

Well, the Federal Reserve has the exact same problem.

Special Report: The ties that bind at the Federal Reserve
By Kristina Cooke, Pedro da Costa and Emily Flitter
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 30, 2010 4:19pm EDT

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - To the outside world, the Federal Reserve is an impenetrable fortress. But former employees and big investors are privy to some of its secrets -- and that access can be lucrative.

By necessity, the Fed spends a considerable amount of time talking to investment managers, bank economists and market strategists. Doing so helps it gather intelligence about the market and the economy that is invaluable in informing the bank's decisions on borrowing costs and lending programs.

But a Reuters investigation has found that the information flow sometimes goes both ways as Fed officials let their guard down with former colleagues and other close private sector contacts.

This selective dissemination of information gives big investors a competitive edge in the market. In the past, Fed officials themselves have privately expressed discomfort about the cozy ties between the central bank and consultants to big investors, though their concerns have largely fallen on deaf ears.

In an effort to counter concerns about close ties between business and government, U.S. President Barack Obama issued an "ethics pledge" that forbids appointees of his administration from contacting the agencies they worked under for at least two years after leaving.

The precise number of former Federal Reserve employees tapping their network of old colleagues can't be determined, but by most accounts they are a sizable group.

"The revolving door between the Fed and the private financial sector is quite significant," said Timothy Canova, professor of international economic law at Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California.