Walking in Their Footsteps: Powell Will Maintain Status Quo at Fed

It looks like Trump’s pick to chair the Federal Reserve plans to walk in the footsteps of his predecessors.
In other words, we can expect the legacy of Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen to continue unbroken. That means a continuation of interventionist monetary policy, artificially low interest rates into the foreseeable future, and plenty of quantitative easing when the time comes.
Yes. The new boss looks a lot like the old boss.
Jerome Powell testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday. The New York Times described it as a ‘relatively placid affair.’
Maintaining the status quo doesn’t set off too many fireworks.
Democrats seem OK with the pick. Interestingly, the people who were against Powell when he was an Obama appointee are OK with him now that he’s a Trump appointee.
Some Democrats have indicated they might oppose the nomination. But, importantly, Mr. Powell drew little opposition from conservative Republicans who opposed both his nomination as a Fed governor in 2012 and his reappointment in 2014. Senator Dean Heller, a Nevada Republican who voted against Mr. Powell both times, said he was trying to get to yes.’

This post was published at Schiffgold on NOVEMBER 29, 2017.