Donald Trump has a history of inserting people he knows into important political roles. Two of his Mar-a-Lago club buddies have been telling the Veterans Affairs Administration (VA) what do. The commander-in-chief plucked his golf caddy off of the course and gave him the job of heading up his presidential campaign social media operation. POTUS snapped up the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and suggested he sit of the Federal Reserve Board. Yet, Trump’s last personnel decision could be his worst.
The president took one of his campaign advisers and conservative commentator to serve on the Federal Reserve Board, too. Fortunately, Stephen Moore decided to withdraw his name from consideration. Trump tweeted:
‘Steve Moore, a great pro-growth economist and a truly fine person, has decided to withdraw from the Fed process. Steve won the battle of ideas including Tax Cuts….’
Clearly, the man who occasionally sits in the Oval Office was fond of Moore. The problem was that the nominee’s best qualification, he said, was that he understood Trump’s economic policies. The president continued tweeting:
‘….and deregulation which have produced non-inflationary prosperity for all Americans. I’ve asked Steve to work with me toward future economic growth in our Country.’
The Federal Reserve is supposed to remain objective and separate from the White House. Plus, Trump’s understanding of how the U.S. economy works has been woefully lacking. He has been pressuring the current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, to keep interest rates low, because he thinks that makes him look good to his base for the 2020 election.
Moore has had a controversial history. He did not believe that women should serve as referees in men’s NCAA basketball games. Then, he claimed that should women earn more than men, it could be “disruptive to family stability.”
Not even some Republicans liked him. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) called him “ridiculous.”
When the economy is doing well, the Fed takes advantage of that period to raise the rates. Then, when the economy cycles down, as it always does, the Federal Reserve has somewhere to go. The interest rate counterbalances the economy.
Economist Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan said:
‘More than possibly any other economist in modern America, he has a track record of getting the big issues wrong. Not just occasionally but time after time.’
