Fed pick Jerome Powell is 'Janet Yellen with a tie': Fmr. Reagan budget director
Federal Reserve governor Jerome Powell is expected to be nominated by President Trump as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.
In an interview on FOX Business’ “After the Bell,” former Reagan Budget Director David Stockman called the nomination of Powell as Fed Chair a “horrible choice.”
“He’s Janet Yellen with a tie. He’s a crony capitalist Keynesian who thinks you should run the economy from the twelve people sitting on the Federal Open Market Committee,” he said.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump spoke to Powell on Tuesday and the president is set to make a formal announcement Thursday.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday with a target of 1% to 1.25% for the fed funds rate, indicating the economy is growing at a solid rate despite hurricane-related disruptions.
Stockman prefers the free market and not the Federal Reserve setting interest rates, and said Powell will continue the same short-term interest rate policy.
“We have to get off this one percent or zero percent interest rate. You gotta let capitalism work,” he told FOX Business’ David Asman. “We don’t need the crutches of a Fed sitting on interest rates.”