Kevin Warsh confirmed as next Fed chair — replacing Trump foe Jerome Powell

Kevin Warsh was confirmed as the next Federal Reserve chairman on Wednesday — even as surging inflation has begun to box the central bank into one of its toughest corners in years.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 54-45 to elevate President Trump’s pick to Fed chairman, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) the only Democrat to cast a vote in his favor. A day earlier, lawmakers approved Warsh to a 14-year term on the Fed’s Board of Governors in a narrow 51-45 vote.

Warsh is expected to replace outgoing Chair Jerome Powell by the end of the week — inheriting an economy where inflation is heating up again even as President Trump pushes for lower borrowing costs.

Powell’s term as chair expires Friday, though he is expected to remain on the Fed’s board as a governor — an unusual arrangement that could create tensions inside the central bank as Warsh begins reshaping monetary policy under signs that inflation is poised to accelerate because of the Iran war.

“The Fed has a predicament,” Derek Reisfield, co-founder and original chairman of MarketWatch, told The Post.

“While there is a lot of pressure to lower rates, typically in a rising inflation environment, the Fed would be hesitant to lower rates. That might fuel inflation more.”

Fresh inflation data released this week showed consumer prices rose 3.8% in April from a year earlier — the highest annual reading since mid-2023 and a sharp acceleration from March’s 3.3% pace.

Core inflation climbed 2.8% year over year, while the Fed’s preferred core PCE gauge remains above 3%.

“The Senate on Wednesday voted 54-45 to elevate President Trump’s pick to Fed chairman, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) the only Democrat to cast a vote in his favor.”

This is really getting tiresome.

With the exception of Fetterman, Democrats are in lockstep in opposing anything and everything Trump, regardless of the national good.

Our president had best not proclaim his love for puppies, lest the Democrats start rallying for wholesale dog executions.

3.8% Inflation will look good Compared to what we’re facing when this 6% wholesale price inflation Comes to the retail aisles.

When Biden’s cockamamie energy policies Raised the price of energy, Not because the cost of production really went up or that there was any shortage Just the perception that it might was enough to send prices soaring. When those fuel prices and pockets flush with stimulus made it to retail shelves it sent “temporal” inflation soaring. When fuel prices went back down Did anything else go down? No. Not from what I see, It went back into profits. Just can’t have profits or revenue go down, people would lose their bonuses.

Get ready to be bent over again because Trump’s “little excursion” is doing the same thing for a different reason. Fuel may go down when Trump’s Folly finally ends but other increased prices will be here to stay. Criticise me if I am eventually wrong, I’ll even be happy to eat crow but I seriously doubt it comes to that.

The stimulus component is all around us now. It came in the form of unexpected tax refunds. That windfall has brought down payment for new cars and other debt I see that all around too.

An example of how it all works is PVC pipe and fittings. The price for these Went through the roof Because of Biden’s increased energy prices. The price of energy went down The price of PVC came down only slightly and the cost of fittings remains sky high. On the job site we used to burn scrap PVC Now we keep every bit of it That we might be able to use. It has gone up and stayed up too much to throw away

Politicians and their policy matter And we just keep doing a lousy job of picking politicians and monitoring their actions And we can never rein them in once they’re elected. We certainly can undo the damage they’ve done.

I’d say that Warsh has about zero legitimate reason to reduce interest rates now. Trump will be pissed.

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