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Posted on 01/14/2026 8:59:09 AM PST by karpov
Tensions between a president and a Federal Reserve chairman are nothing new. Up until now, they may have reached a peak when Lyndon Johnson shoved William McChesney Martin at the LBJ ranch. Martin gave in a while later, another step into the inflationary quagmire from which the U.S. emerged only after Paul Volcker reasserted the Fed’s independence.
However bad that Texas moment, it falls far short of the Department of Justice’s serving the Federal Reserve with grand jury subpoenas on Friday. They relate to testimony given to the Senate Banking Committee concerning an over-budget renovation project and come with the threat of criminal indictment.
Chairman Jerome Powell’s response was blunt. No one, “certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve,” is above the law, but, he argued, this was not about his testimony or the renovation. Those were “pretexts.” Rather, it was “a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.”
We cannot pretend to know every detail of the renovation project, but given this administration’s penchant for targeting for investigation or prosecution anyone who crosses it, the chairman’s comments ring true. If this is a baseless effort at revenge or pure intimidation, it’s a disgrace (we should note that President Trump denies any involvement with the DOJ’s action).
The Fed’s independence is based on convention, not law. The central bank is a creation of Congress. What Congress can make, Congress can remake or unmake, and the existence of a quasi-executive agency not directly controlled by the executive branch is a constitutional anomaly. But it can hardly be seriously maintained that Trump is engaged in a work of constitutional house-cleaning.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
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Laws are for the little people. Federal Reserve Chairman should be permitted to commit perjury with impunity!
National Review reminding me of why I quit subscribing years ago.
So the federal reserve has no oversight on its spending as long as it implies it affects their independence, so what if they decided to gold plate the walls or decided to buy Greenland,?
Welcome to the "real world" Chaiman Powell. Pretexts are the way the world works. Cross some government functionary and they will think of 6 ways to screw over the average citizen. Oh, you think you're "too important" for that? Nobody is indispensable.
LBJ was one of the worst skid marks in our history.
I’ll thank God and Greyhound when Mr. “Rear View Mirror Watcher” is gone. He’s never looked ahead, always looks at the “data” which is why he’s always behind the curve. What this means is he’s timid about decision making and moves too late.
Bkmk
POWELL SPENT A FORTUNE REMODELING THE FED BUILDING....
TRUMP IS INCENSED OVER THAT.
POWELL SPENT A FORTUNE REMODELING THE FED BUILDING....
TRUMP IS INCENSED OVER THAT.
POWELL SPENT A FORTUNE REMODELING THE FED BUILDING....
TRUMP IS INCENSED OVER THAT.
$1.9 BILLION ESTIMATE GREW TO $3.5 BILLION
They’re just re-arranging deck chairs on the titanic.
I couldn’t care less about “getting” or not “getting” Powell
Abolish the Federal Reserve. If we just “get” Powell and the Fed continues to exist, the problem is just going to happen again.
Stop the cycle.
Abolish the federal reserve. Wipe it off of the face of the earth.
Powell is a political hack lawyer, not an economist. He is purposefully holding interest rates high to hold down the economy and affect the midterms. Same as when he lowered interest rates to try and help Biden. There is no such thing as Fed “independence”.
“POWELL SPENT A FORTUNE REMODELING THE FED BUILDING....
TRUMP IS INCENSED OVER THAT.”
They say that was not taxpayer money.
Whew!
I thought it was about John Wesley!!
Supposedly its Federal Reserve money paying for the building. Money generated from interest on government securities and fees charged to banks.
Still that is no excuse for mismanagement of the renovation nor does it excuse the building of a financial palace. Nor does it excuse Powell misleading Congress in his testimony.
Barry Soetoro and PedoJoe Biden would challenge LBJ for that title.
It’s about Powells taxpayer funded renovation project being a Billion dollars, with a B, over budget. Maybe that calls into question his judgment.
I’m incensed too! 😎
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