President Trump’s announcement for Federal Reserve chairman came early as the Wall Street Journal just spilled the beans: Trump will nominate current Fed governor Jerome Powell as the next chairman of the central bank.
Trump was supposed to make the announcement tomorrow, but the Rupert Murdoch-owned paper broke the news a day early.
WSJ SCOOP: White House has notified Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell that Trump will nominate him as Fed chair https://t.co/JH97Zs6Gvb
— Rebecca Ballhaus (@rebeccaballhaus) November 1, 2017
From the report: “The president spoke with Mr. Powell on Tuesday, according to another person familiar with the matter who couldn’t describe what they discussed. Mr. Trump had settled on Mr. Powell by Saturday, but people familiar with the process had cautioned that he could change his mind. The president plans to formally announce the decision Thursday before he leaves for a trip to Asia on Friday.”
Here’s more about Trump’s choice to head the Fed: “Mr. Powell, a lawyer, would be the first Fed leader in three decades without a Ph.D. in economics. Before joining the Fed board, Mr. Powell worked as an investment banker in New York City, as Treasury undersecretary for financial institutions in the George H.W. Bush administration, as a partner at the Carlyle Group and as a scholar at the Bipartisan Policy Center.”
For Fed watchers, Powell is a safe choice. He’s not a monetary hawk by any means. Of the candidates Trump was considering, he’s the one most closely aligned with current chairwoman Janet Yellen. Trump teased his pick earlier this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_nX02ChJwc
Many economists predict Powell will continue Yellen’s policy of slowly rolling back the Fed’s balance sheet, undoing the enormous and unprecedented measures former chairman Ben Bernanke undertook to shore up the banking system in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. As the nation’s banks faced bankruptcy due to the collapsing value of mortgage-backed security, the Fed pumped over $3 trillion into various banks over the course of the past eight years.
Powell is going to have a hell of a job unwinding the Fed’s bloated balance sheet without causing another downturn. President Trump thinks he’s good for the job. I remain skeptical, especially if Powell is of the same prime-pumping philosophy of his predecessor.
What do you think? Is Powell a good pick for Federal Reserve chair? Tell us your thoughts below and share this breaking news over Facebook now!
