Don't let Trump blow up the Fed

Why President Trump's latest nomination to the Federal Reserve could undermine the central bank's most important asset: Independence

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP/Getty Images, jjgervasi/iStock, GrashAlex/iStock)

Economic commentator Stephen Moore, President Trump's proposed nominee to the Federal Reserve Board, claims no interest in being a "disruptor" at America's central bank. And narrowly interpreted, it's a valid statement — no matter what Moore's intent. As a Fed governor, Moore would be just one of a dozen voting members on the bank's policy-making committee. To wield influence beyond his single vote, he would need to persuade his colleagues — overall a group with considerably more economic and financial expertise — to adopt his unorthodox views on Fed policy.

That's unlikely. Moore is a journalist and activist whose specialty is taxes. And for many years, until last April, I sparred with Moore each Saturday afternoon on a radio program hosted by Lawrence Kudlow, now director of Trump's National Economic Council. Although amiable and willing to politely listen to opposing viewpoints, Moore never struck me as someone possessing the sort of deep knowledge of finance and monetary economics that would be required to start institutionally shifting the Fed toward a radically different way of operating.

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James Pethokoukis

James Pethokoukis is the DeWitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute where he runs the AEIdeas blog. He has also written for The New York Times, National Review, Commentary, The Weekly Standard, and other places.