The Federal Reserve is still political
President Joe Biden’s re-nomination of Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chairman came as no surprise to financial analysts. Powell remained the most likely candidate given his ability to schmooze and glad-hand with politicians within and outside the administration. He earned the title of “best bureaucrat in Washington, DC” by receiving endorsements from both National Review and the American Prospect despite their divergent policy views. A corresponding vote in the Senate seems preordained, unless Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren gets her way and forces a new pick. “Reappointing Powell is the safest route here,” the Cato Institute’s Norbert Michel told me in an email after Powell’s nomination on Monday.
