Federal Reserve Chairman Tells Trump To Shove It With Wednesday Rebuke

By
Carissa House-Dunphy
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Donald Trump believes that lowering interest rates will boost the economy ahead of 2020, giving him a leg up in the election and covering the damage he’s done with his Chinese tariffs. Of course, Trump also believes he understands smart business practices but then lost billions of dollars, so Trump may not be the one to listen to on this issue.

Trump has repeatedly disparaged the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, because he refuses to lower the interest rate at Trump’s command. Even though Trump appointed him personally, the two are now at odds, with Trump reportedly having explored his options to fire Powell. Despite this, Powell has said that he’s not going anywhere and that the law gives him four years in office.

According to Bloomberg:

‘Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he intends to serve his full four-year term as head of the Federal Reserve, after President Donald Trump asked White House lawyers earlier this year to explore options for removing him.

‘“I think the law is clear that I have a four year term, and I fully intend to serve it,” Powell said at a press conference in Washington on Wednesday after policy makers met to discuss interest rates. They left the benchmark rate unchanged, while signaling a cut has become more likely.’

While Trump knows that lowering the interest rate would give farmers and investors more disposable income to boost the economy, Powell also knows that it could lead to a recession. Trump cannot fire his Fed Chair, and he learned recently that crazy appointments to the Fed Board like Herman Cain aren’t going to be received well, either. In the midst of all of this chaos, Powell is still plugging away by doing the job he was hired by the president to do.

‘Bloomberg News reported Tuesday that the White House counsel’s office in February examined the legality of stripping the chairmanship from Powell and demoting him back to a Fed governor. Bloomberg reported in December that Trump had discussed firing Powell amid the president’s mounting frustration over interest-rate increases last year.’

The mess Trump has made for farmers with his tariffs on Chinese trade will have to be solved another way, although it seems Trump may be out of ideas. Eventually, he may have to admit he was wrong and that he’s made a mistake. No matter how bad it gets, that’s incredibly unlikely to happen.

‘Trump has repeatedly criticized Powell, his own pick as Fed chair, for not doing enough to boost the economy. The president has called for lower interest rates as he seeks to offset the headwinds created by his trade war with China, and create a favorable backdrop for his re-election campaign next year.’

Featured image via Flickr by Brookings Institution under a Creative Commons license



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