Trump has escalated attacks against Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in recent weeks as the central bank has indicated there will be more interest rate hikes. Experts across the board have criticized the president for interfering with the Fed’s independence.
But not everyone disagrees.
Stephen Moore, author of the new book, “Trumponomics, Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy” addressed the controversy on Monday’s Final Round.
“Well, Trump sure looks like a genius right now, doesn’t he,” Moore said. “He basically started criticizing the Fed right after their latest interest rate increase [on September 26]. And ever since then, the stock market has really fallen. And his point was, wait a minute, to use the old cliche, you are taking the punchbowl away from the party prematurely.”
The Dow ended Monday down 266 points, extending losses seen for much of October. Since then, however, the index has bounced back by more than 800 points going into Thursday. Overall, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) has fallen more than 1,000 basis points since September 26.
‘The worst possible outcome’
The president’s criticisms place the Fed in an awkward position while the stock market faces serious turbulence and Trump looks for someone to potentially blame for that.
Michael Cox, former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, described the situation as “the worst possible outcome.” Former Fed vice chair and Princeton University economics professor Alan Blinder doesn’t believe the Fed will bend to Trump’s will.
“My guess is, if anything, those kinds of words coming out of the White House will stiffen the Fed’s back rather than have it roll over and play dead with the White House,” Blinder told Yahoo Finance’s Final Round recently.
On October 25, current Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida, making his first public remarks, said that he believes “some further gradual adjustment in the federal funds rate will be appropriate.”
‘There’s a boogeyman of inflation’
Moore describes himself as an inflation hawk, but doesn’t see the economy overheating, which the Fed tries to prevent.
“Show me the inflation,” Moore said. “If Chairman Powell were here right now, I’d say, where is it? Show it to me. Your commodity prices have actually been falling. They’re not rising. That’s the best measure of inflation.”
“So I think there’s a boogeyman of inflation out there right now,” Moore continued. “The Fed — I think what the Fed is concerned about — is afraid of is not inflation, they’re afraid of growth. And growth doesn’t cause inflation.”
Kristin Myers is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.
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