Kerpen says its important to get Fed picks right

After having two prospective nominees for the Federal Reserve board withdraw even before they are formally nominated, a free-market policy analyst believes the President may change his approach with any future potential picks.

“We’re relatively early here,” said Phil Kerpen of American Commitment. “I don’t think the President is going to throw a name out prior to vetting again. He’s tried that twice. I think they’re probably going to slow things down, go through a little bit more of a process of checking out, in some depth, the background of whoever they’re looking at before they float a name publicly.”

Kerpen thinks its important to signal a change in philosophy with those President Trump chooses.

“The Fed has basically backed off,” Kerpen said. “They’ve essentially admitted the December rate hike was a mistake. They’re taking a much more neutral outlook now. They’re saying not to expect any more rate hikes in 2019. I think that they’ve been very encouraged by that strong productivity number in particular to think that they’ve got a lot more room to let the economy run before they think there’s going to be any more inflationary pressure.”

These new members will be there after President Trump is gone.

“The two vacancies that exist now on the Federal Reserve Board, one of them runs through January of 2025 and the other one runs through January of 2030,” said Kerpen. “These are some decisions that are going to have an impact for a long time. I think it’s important to get it right and to get people who are of a high quality.”

There’s also the chance that, should he win a second term, President Trump might seek to appoint one of the new members as Chairman at some point in that second four years.