‘Not My People’—Trump Hectoring of Fed Chairman Complicates Rate Calls

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 10, 2019 | Nick Timiraos

[reaganaut1]

...

Mr. Trump called in to a CNBC news program on Monday morning and complained about policy under Mr. Powell, who goes by Jay. “They made a big mistake. They raised interest rates far too fast,” Mr. Trump said. “It’s more than just Jay Powell. We have people on the Fed that really weren’t—you know, they’re not my people.”

Mr. Trump’s hectoring of the Fed—over and over through the past year, in tweets, interviews and extemporaneous remarks—has persuaded some investors that the Fed’s decision to shelve plans to raise rates this year came in response to the White House. Investors also haven’t understood what Mr. Powell is saying at times, fueling more confusion.

Mr. Powell’s game plan is to tune out the president. The more he does, the more demanding Mr. Trump gets. After the Fed signaled early this year its pivot away from raising rates, Mr. Trump started calling for rate cuts.

Such a stance could boost the economy and help the president as he runs for re-election. The recent escalation of trade tensions has also fueled worries about a sharper growth slowdown that could force the Fed to act by cutting rates. A weak jobs report on Friday added to the concerns.

Shortly after Mr. Powell unveiled the policy shift in January, administration officials arranged an awkward dinner between him and the president at the White House residence. It happened to fall on Mr. Powell’s 66th birthday.

A few weeks later, Mr. Trump surprised his advisers and Mr. Powell by calling the Fed leader on his cellphone to discuss a disappointing jobs report. “I guess I’m stuck with you,” the president told Mr. Powell, according to the president’s later recounting of the call to supporters.

[MayflowerMadam]

“the Obama regime and his sock puppet Janet Yellin?”

Another “wingman” of Obama’s.

[JonPreston]

Or Myron Brilliant.

[high info voter]

It’s too bad so many people have never studied the corrupt and foreign beginnings of the federal(not) reserve(not). I’ve been to Jekyll Island.

[DoodleDawg]

Trump is complaining about the members of the FOMC. They are the ones at war with the growing economy.

Finish filling the Board of Governors and he'll have appointed six of the twelve members. But he's complaining about the ones he has appointed.

[DoodleDawg]

What makes you think unelected, unaccouuntable bankers are more righteous than elected politicians?

That's sarcasm, right?

[Political Junkie Too]

I still think Trump blames the Fed for raising interest rates just before the midterm election purposely to shake up the market to make voters jittery.

He is preemptively warning them not to try that again in advance of the 2020 election.

-PJ

[napscoordinator]

I think fed chairman has to be the easiest job in government. Once a quarter they get up and flip a coin to decide whether to raise rates or not.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Actually, they work on the false premise that the Government can control a market economy by printing fiat currency.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

:: Who do you think has been printing money like wild since the Vietnam War? ::

Uhhhh...the CIA?
America’s largest and most successful venture capital investor since the Vietnam war.

[DoughtyOne]

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Just $21.00 dollars to 93.00%

[trebb]

Why should Trump back off - the Fed’s hints at coming reductions in the rates is admission that Trump was right and they were wrong ....

[DIRTYSECRET]

Not my people. Sounds like a Joe South song.

[Lent]

The President has spent his life in business unlike most politicians who make their money by political exploitation. I expect President Trump to directly address these issues and applaud him for his knowledge in these areas. You should apologize to him for your mendacity.

[iontheball]

The Fed has always been a big bankers’ money making racket. No body has ever audited the Fed. Trump needs to move past fighting with Powell, cut to the jugular and disband the Fed altogether. Just like the rip off on foreign trade the Fed has been ripping off the country under this contrived money system since its inception. Get rid of the Fed, move the country back to the gold standard and place the management of the country’’s finances where it is supposed to be, in the Treasury Department.

[iontheball]

You don’t want politicians directly in charge of the central bank because of the temptation to print money and create a short-term inflationary boom. Interest rates are low, and the Federal Reserve is expected to cut the Fed Funds rate a few times this year. Trump should back off, since his Fed-bashing does not increase the chance they will act.
_____________________________________________
That has always been the commonly accepted line but it just does not wash. The Fed is nothing but a big banker scam. No one knows what they are doing except, as I understand it, they charge the U.S. interest on loans for money that is comes from the Treasury. They never have been audited. Ron Paul has been onto these crooks for decades, but no one seems to care. It’s similar to the rip off by foreign governments on trade that Trump is trying to straighten out. Believe Trump is on to these SOBs. They either reform or else. The ‘else’ with regard to the Fed is to do away with them completely.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Central banks are not our friends.

Yup. Trump was in a sense elected to be Andrew Jackson. If people on the Fed would quit worrying about how they look in the headlines and just focus on doing the right thing this wouldn't be a problem.

[9YearLurker]

Unfortunately Trump himself is still appointing people who aren’t his people. That has been his biggest weakness by far.

[Grampa Dave]

[Georgia Girl 2]

The only reason the Fed is backing off and will now likely lower rates in September and December is because Trump has stepped in and pressured them. Powell did tighten way too fast. We have a fragile housing market and the economy is still trying to recover.

The tariff war with China is likely going to cause problems with the markets for awhile. Rates need to remain low.

[semimojo]

...as I understand it, they charge the U.S. interest on loans for money that is comes from the Treasury.

And any profit they earn, including the interest they collect, goes right back into the US Treasury.