It’s time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to begin planning for his retirement life. But with nominee Kevin Warsh headed to the Fed to take his place, Powell is doing what only one other Fed Chairman has done in the last 113 years, planning to stay on as a governor after he’s been replaced.
Powell explains that he has made this decision because of the Department of Justice’s investigation into him regarding the $2.5 billion price tag for the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington, D.C. President Trump has regularly criticized the cost, and even made a visit to the Federal Reserve to assess the project himself.
As part of a compromise to move Kevin Warsh’s nomination forward in the Senate, the DOJ dropped its investigation into Powell, and the Federal Reserve’s independent inspector general will now investigate the cost overruns. Despite what appears to be an end to the matter, Powell has vowed to stay on. Former advisor to President Trump, Larry Kudlow, has suggested that it’s time for Jerome Powell to go. He writes:
This speaks poorly of Mr. Powell. His record as Fed chairman was undistinguished. The Consumer Price Index averaged 3.5 percent per year under Mr. Powell. That was the highest level since the tenure of Paul Volcker, giving Mr. Powell the worst record in more than 40 years. Cumulatively the CPI rose a whopping 32 percent.
And as far as the economy, real gross domestic product averaged 2.4 percent at an annual rate. Another unimpressive performance.
On top of that, Mr. Powell was also a highly political Fed chairman who embraced President Biden’s radical climate agenda and even more radical DEI.
In an interview today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed to me his strong displeasure with Mr. Powell by saying “I think it is an insult to Kevin Warsh, Mickey Bowman, and Chris Waller to think that these other Republican nominees do not care about the institution of the Fed and that he alone can maintain the integrity of the Fed.”
Watch Kudlow’s interview with Bessent below (the relevant bit begins at 10:25 in the video):
Action Line: Powell shouldn’t make the mistake of staying on at the Fed. It won’t go well. It’s time for Powell to go his own way. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
