I didn’t know where else to post this comment and I wanted to avoid starting a new thread. This is more on the topic of financial disruption in my view. Will it contribute to inflation? I dunno. Anyway:
This announcement about Fed Chairman Powell, coming as it does in the wake of the other Fed resignations, is most unfortunate. And I’m not saying Powell is dishonest or underhanded. Am in no position to comment on that. But the appearance of what he did is rather smelly.
Thing is, Powell’s term ends in only a short while, early in 2022. You could hardly blame Biden, in the wake of this disclosure, for deciding to go with a different Fed chair. After all, that’s what Trump did (nearly) four years ago when he put Powell in. Frankly it would not surprise me if Biden elevated his own Treasury Secretary.
But changes at the top of the Fed can cause market queasiness. It’s such a powerful position. Change there gets money folks to thinking, and that can become messy.
I remember back when the country relied on strong hands at the Fed. Both Volcker and Greenspan come to mind. Not saying they got everything right. But they were strong and respected. Given the pandemic, the inflation, and so much else of a financial nature buffeting America now, things would be a lot better if we had a steady and widely respected hand on the Fed tiller . . . . . not a person whose ethics are being called into question.