A) The Supreme Court has already said he can’t do that.
B) Powell doesn’t set interest rates; a committee of Federal Reserve bankers does that
C) Rumors are that Trump has loans coming due and he needs to refinance at lower rates. Those rumors are beginning to seem more plausible.
D) He’s going to wreck his chances at cheaper re-financing if he even tries this (if Powell doesn’t sue to keep his job/maintain the independence of the Bank, I expect the Bank will). The repercussions in the market would be huge. Jamie Dimon is already warning about that.
E) Trump is talking to House Republicans. As I said: the bad guy never really acts alone; and the people supporting him (IRL) are happy to do so. Those clowns telling Trump “Yes, wreck the financial system!” aren’t afraid of a primary. They think this is a good idea.
F) Maybe I need to move my money into gold, after all.
Whoever appointed him was obviously an incompetent fucking moron. https://t.co/x8pcRzqI2O
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 16, 2025
There was a story a few days ago about cost overruns for renovating a Fed building. I wouldn't be surprised if this is used as a pretext to attempt to fire Powell. I just did a quick news search, and within the last few hours there are a couple of articles wondering the same thing. SCOTUS has said Powell can't be fired, but as the dissent in that decision pointed out, there is no reasoning that makes the Fed chief any different from any other position that SCOTUS has decided the president has complete authority over. Is "theft, fraud and abuse" (interesting it's always cited, but actual examples never materialize) of a renovation budget enough of a fig leaf to allow Trump to fire Powell? I suspect we will be finding out!
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is, the Fed is self funded, so that might not work (or it might 🤷🏻♂️). The dissent was right, and the opinion was criticized (rightly) on that point. But the majority made up “presidential immunity,” so they can pretty much do whatever the fuck they want. And they don’t want the toddler-in -chief aiming his shotgun at the financial markets. At least, that’s how I read their exception for the Fed. As you say, we’ll see. We’ll also see if that gives Congress any incentive to put Vance behind the Resolute Desk.
ReplyDelete