FOX Business host Larry Kudlow turns to the Fed chair denying any wrongdoing amid the investigation into ‘Kudlow.’
Don’t be a martyr Jay Powell. He was a bad Fed chairman, but he’s not a criminal. During his tenure, he has consistently missed the Fed’s inflation targets with the worst inflation in 40 years. He was the most political Fed chairman in memory.
Raising rates to stop President Trump’s tax cuts back in the first term, lowering rates to re-elect Vice President Harris and the Democrats in the last election – purely political.
A lot of his Fed friends are facing allegations of insider trading, or ethics violations, or mortgage fraud, but he did nothing about it. He jumped on the socialist bandwagon of climate change, woke up, DEI, no loans to the oil companies, it’s all wrong.
Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy talks about the midterm elections and President Donald Trump’s foreign policy with ‘Kudlow.’
In other words, he’s a real meathead, but I don’t think he’s a criminal. He probably testified wrongly about the Fed’s rebuilding plans before Congress, but Mr. Trump will not be able to get his new chairman through the Senate until he drops Mr. Trump’s criminal case. It won’t happen.
Mr. Trump himself said last night, in a quick interview with NBC News, that “I don’t know anything about it, but he’s certainly not very good at the Fed and he’s not very good at building buildings.”
The president continued, “no, I would not even think of doing that. What should stress him is that the rates are too high. That is the only pressure he has.”
Last summer, Mr. Trump made a rare visit to Mr. Powell and the Fed. And he made sure to criticize the Fed’s spending overruns on their stimulus packages, which are estimated to run at least $700 billion over budget.
At that time, Mr. Trump declined to raise the issue of criminal charges or grand juries. So who knows which little gremlin from the US Attorney’s office in Washington, DC, or the main Justice Department, decided to issue these complaints. Who knows? Everyone tries to play dumb, saying “I didn’t do it, I didn’t know about it.”
Here’s the thing, very important: Republican banking committee members like Thom Tillis and others won’t confirm a new Fed chairman until the subpoenas are dismissed. So it is an exercise in futility.
The ‘Big Money Show’ panel comes in as federal prosecutors investigate Fed Chairman Jerome Powell over a $2.5 billion headquarters overhaul, sparking market volatility and renewed debate about the Fed’s independence.
Yet all this ranting and raving about ending Fed independence is overblown. There is no negative market reaction today. The 10-year Treasury yield fared best, at 4.17 percent. It was less than 4.18 percent when it was issued. Tip to my friend Peter Boockvar for that info.
Meanwhile, the S&P and Dow took a hit. So no one seems to really care about this story. Here’s what they care about. The economy is growing at five percent or more.
Maybe it will reach 6 percent or 7 percent next year from Trump’s tax cuts and deregulation and “drill, baby, drill,” and all this new economic stimulus and billions of dollars coming in from around the world. There is also productivity growth of 4 percent or more.
In addition, last year, 2.4 million jobs were created in households, which were not reported in the newspapers – 2.4 million. Also, take-home pay is adjusted for inflation, rising for the first time in years. Also, record the business benefits.
Also, a negative CPI print from a positive oil shock. This made the US the hottest economy in the world. That is the important point right now. It’s not the cost of old Fed cash.
