Fed Chair Jerome Powell Must Resign for Playing Partisan Games with Interest Rates
Powell getting axed would be great news for the country, but it would be far better news if we listened to retired Congressman Ron Paul and eliminated the Fed completely.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has become a popular punching bag for President Donald Trump in recent weeks for his manipulation of interest rates to suppress the MAGA economic recovery.
Last month President Trump sent Powell a handwritten note featuring a graph of all the interest rates for the nations of the world. It showed the U.S. as having the 35th highest interest rate of the nations listed at 4.50%. Trump noted that interest rates should be approximately 1.75%, among the world’s lowest, in order to stimulate lending and spur economic growth.
"Jerome - You are, as usual, "too late." You have cost the USA a fortune - and continue to do so - you should lower the rate - by a lot! Hundreds of billions of dollars being lost! No inflation,” Trump wrote in the note to Powell.
When examining Powell’s record, it becomes clear that there is zero consistency in his actions. The unemployment rate, currently at 4.2%, is at the same level when the Fed was comfortable by cutting interest rates by 50 basis points on Sept. 18 of last year, and again by 25 basis points on Dec. 18. An additional rate cut on Nov. 7 occurred with the unemployment rate just slightly below today’s level.
The rate of inflation during these cuts were either at the same level or higher than the current inflation rate. CPI core readings of inflation in particular were far higher while the Fed was cutting rates last year than they are today. The only difference was the White House occupant. Powell cut rates to help Biden but keeps rates higher to hurt Trump. He even admits his bias publicly, harboring open disdain for Trump’s America First trade policy.
“We went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs and essentially all inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,” Powell said last week during an appearance at a European Central Bank forum.
Powell wants to punish the American public because President Trump is slapping tariffs on countries that have taken advantage of the U.S. in one-sided free trade policies for decades. Powell is deliberately holding the economy hostage, manipulating Fed policy in a vain attempt to coerce President Trump into going back to the status quo that is better for multinational corporate interests.
Trump is not fooled by Powell’s manipulations, and he is steadfast in his opinion that Powell must go as Fed chair. Because the Fed is “independent,” meaning operating a level higher than the President and wholly unaccountable to the public, Powell is entrenched in his seat and content to damage the country until his four-year term ends in May 2026. However, a recent scandal and alleged misappropriation of funds may force Powell out before his term ends.
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte has called on Powell to be investigated for apparently lying while giving testimony to the U.S. Senate about blowing an astronomical $2.5 billion to renovate his offices. Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming believes Powell issued false statements as he desperately tried to wiggle out of responsibility for the scandal.
“He made a number of factually inaccurate statements to the Committee regarding the Fed’s plush private dining room and elevator, skylights, water features, and roof terrace,” Lummis said in a statement to the New York Post. “This is typical of the mismanagement and ‘don’t bother me’ attitude that Chair Powell has always shown.”
Pulte wrote a letter with FHFA letterhead stating the following: "I am asking Congress to investigate Chairman Jerome Powell, his political bias, and his deceptive Senate testimony, which is enough to be removed "for cause." Jerome Powell's $2.5B Building Renovation Scandal stinks to high heaven, and he lied when asked about the specifics before Congress.”
Powell is the latest in a long line of dutiful hacks who have lorded over the Fed and played games with the bank accounts of ordinary Americans. The Fed has consistently failed at achieving its supposed mandate of stable prices and maximum employment with that “mandate” only serving as a guise for permanent bankster control over the economy. Powell getting axed would be great news for the country, but it would be far better news if we listened to retired Congressman Ron Paul and eliminated the Fed completely.
