Fed chief frontrunner Kevin Hassett will do whatever it takes to push through Trumps MAGA-nomics
Kevin Hassett remains the odds-on favorite to succeed Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve — despite vast misgiving from Wall Street and CEO types.“It’s in the president’s hands,” is how one person close to the process of nominating the next Fed chairman put it.Trump began meeting with other candidates this week as he zeroes in on his decision for Fed chair.Earlier in the week, he sat down with former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, an academic at Stanford.
Other candidates might make their way to the Oval for similar meetings. But the managerial class — which is closely watching Trump’s choice for obvious reasons — sees these confabs as performative as opposed to substantive.Hassett, every CEO and corporate executive I speak to, is the overwhelming favorite to take the job because Trump is obsessed with lowering short-term interest rates, and while the office’s current occupant just cut them a bit, Trump wants them cut more.Hassett is seen as a guy who will do whatever it is to push through Trump’s agenda. “He does it three times a day,” is how one CEO described Hassett’s cheerleading of MAGA economics as he vies for a job that is supposed to be independent from the White House.The Fed, of course, was created by Congress to be semi-independent of the White House and politics.
The president chooses the chairman subject to senate confirmation, but the term lasts four years and he can only be dismissed for “cause” like doing something illegal, or Powell would be out of there by now because he has resisted Trump’s efforts for him to cut short term interest rates more and faster.The Fed is also known for its “dual mandate.” It conducts what’s known as monetary policy by increasing or decreasing the money supply through various measures including adjustments of short-term interest rates to achieve what’s known as “price stability.” The other part of the mandate involves creating as much employment that’s possible...