Meet the Biden nominee who’s sympathetic to Soviet-era socialism

FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “Many of President Biden’s nominees have been quietly confirmed without much of a fight. But the president’s nominee for Comptroller of the Currency, Saule Omarova, is drawing backlash for her extreme economic views. Republican Senator Pat Toomey, a staunch fiscal conservative, said he has ‘[n]ever seen a more radical choice for any regulatory spot in our federal government.’

What’s prompting the unusual level of pushback on this nomination for a top regulatory position?

Saule Omarova openly admits that her proposed reforms 'will effectively end banking as we know it.' https://t.co/TezHJNTwVV

— FEE (@feeonline) October 26, 2021

Well, Omarova has an unusual educational and ideological background that, in conjunction with her many public statements, suggests she is sympathetic to—if not outright supportive of—the state-run economic model that dominated the former Soviet Union where she grew up…

Forget the gulags, economic stagnation, shortages, and political oppression—Omarova still believes the former Soviet economy is a model for the US, at least in some ways. Perhaps most disturbingly, one of those ways Omarova favors the Soviet system is banking: the very sector she’s nominated to oversee.”

Read the entire column.