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In news that is not about Minnesota, president Trump is pushing for Kevin Warsh as Jerome Powell's replacement at the he'd of the Federal Reserve..
Jerome Powell was picked by Trump during his first term, replacing Janet Yellen. His tenure has been marked with volatile markets (both up and down), high inflation, the end of ZIRP, and more recently, political turmoil.
That last bit is unusual. The federal reserve is allegedly an independent body, and the chairman is nominally apolitical. In the last few years, this set of beliefs has begun to fray, particularly on the right. Powell and Trump have always had disagreements about interest rates, but that came to a head during the election of 2024.
Rates have remained high since then, although cuts have occurred.
Since then, the administration has called for Powell's dismissal, and a recent investigation has caused enough strife that Powell has announced that he will be stepping down from the position.
Trump's replacement, Warsh, has previously served as a Fed governor during the 2008 financial crisis. Historically, he has been very concerned about inflation, as well as the effects of printing more money. This seems to conflict with Trump's stated goals of lowering the interest rate.
What is going on here? Has Warsh had a change of heart?
I don't know why Trump wants lower rates. That seems stupid given that he just won an election due to high inflation.
I suspect that Trump's true objection is out of principle. Trump is the unitary executive theory personified. The idea that there is government policy that he has no ability to influence is offensive to him. The Federal Reserve is simply too important for Trump to not care about it.
At least part of why Trump wants to lower the rates has to do with housing. He's been flailing around a lot on the topic lately, trying to find something that might resonate with younger voters without causing a meltdown among people who have a significant portion of their net worth wrapped up in property.
6 - 7% interest rates when prices are this high is pretty brutal. I'm not sure how it compares in real, day-to-day costs vs the bad old days of the 1980s, but it sure hurts.
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Perhaps he does not believe that lowering rates causes higher inflation. I don't either. Anyway, the jobs situation is pretty dire at the moment (job growth is ~0) and that's the other half of the misery index.
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