Herman Cain said he will face a “cumbersome” process as he is vetted for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, Reuters reports.
Said Cain: “Whether or not I make it through this process – Time will tell. Would I be disappointed if I don’t make it through this process? No. Would I be thrilled and honored if I make it through this process? Yes. That’s the bottom line.”
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal:
WSJ: What would you think of Herman Cain on the Fed?
SHELBY: It’d be interesting.
WSJ: In what way?
SHELBY: Probably in all ways.
“I doubt that will be a nomination. But if it were a nomination, you can bet what the interest rates he would be pushing for. If Herman Cain were on the Fed, you’d know the interest rate would soon be 9-9-9.”
— Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), quoted by Politico, on reports that President Trump might name former presidential candidate Herman Cain to the Federal Reserve Board.
“President Trump has told confidants he wants Herman Cain on the Federal Reserve board, but will wait until his background check is completed before making the formal announcement,” Axios reports.
“The administration did not conduct a thorough vetting of Trump’s most recent Fed pick, Stephen Moore, and they’ve had to weather stories about back taxes owed by Moore and that he had failed to pay alimony to his ex-wife.”
“Stephen Moore, President Trump’s presumptive nominee for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, said on Tuesday that he had no plans to withdraw from contention for the job despite ethical and financial problems that have surfaced in recent days,” the New York Times reports.
Said Moore: “It’s full speed ahead.”
Stephen Moore, the economics commentator chosen by President Trump for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, was found in contempt of court after failing to pay his ex-wife more than $300,000 in alimony, child support and other debts, the Guardian reports.
“In a divorce filing in August 2010, Moore was accused of inflicting ’emotional and psychological abuse’ on his ex-wife during their 20-year marriage. Allison Moore said in the filing she had been forced to flee their home to protect herself. She was granted a divorce in May 2011.”
Stephen Moore, the conservative economics commentator chosen by President Trump for a seat on the Federal Reserve board, is being pursued by the federal government for $75,000 in taxes that it alleges he owes, The Guardian reports.
Moore said he disputed the IRS claim and was “eager to reach an agreement” with authorities but had been frustrated by bureaucracy at the agency.
Politico: “President Trump’s choice of former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to serve on the Federal Reserve Board is stirring misgivings among some bankers, who worry that the conservative economist would erode the Fed’s political independence.”
“A half-dozen bank representatives interviewed on Tuesday privately said they aren’t planning to take a position on the nomination, but their reservations are likely to come up in conversations with Republican senators, which could complicate Moore’s path to confirmation amid strong opposition from Democrats.”
Catherine Rampell: “President Trump has made a lot of ill-advised nominations. But perhaps no single choice could inflict more long-term damage than the one he announced Friday: Stephen Moore, Trump’s pick to join the Federal Reserve Board.”
“Moore’s many economic claims over the years have revealed him to be, shall we say, easily confused…”
“A newspaper banned him from its pages because of his struggles in getting basic statistics right. During the dozens of times I’ve debated him on TV, he has persistently misstated easily Google-able facts. These include whether the country is experiencing deflation, whether Canada’s tariffs are ‘twice as high as’ ours, and whether the Fed predicted that Trump would crash the stock market. (Nope, nope, and huh?)”
“Now, somehow, Moore has been nominated to the Fed.”
Meanwhile, the Washington Post notes Moore edged closer to the Fed seat “as key GOP lawmakers express support.”
Greg Mankiw, an economics professor at Harvard who served as an adviser to both George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, writes that senators should “do their job” and ensure Stephen Moore is not confirmed as a Fed governor.
Said Mankiw: “Steve is a perfectly amiable guy, but he does not have the intellectual gravitas for this important job. It is time for Senators to do their job. Mr. Moore should not be confirmed.”
President Trump announced that he planned to nominate 2016 campaign adviser Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve board, the AP reports.
Moore wrote a book called Trumponomics and is a vocal critic of Fed chairman Jerome Powell.
Jonathan Chait: “Moore’s primary area of pseudo-expertise — he is not an economist — is fiscal policy. He is a dedicated advocate of supply-side economics, relentlessly promoting his fanatical hatred of redistribution and belief that lower taxes for the rich can and will unleash wondrous prosperity. Like nearly all supply-siders, he has clung to this dogma in the face of repeated, spectacular failures.”
“President Trump is considering picking long-time supporter Stephen Moore to be a governor at the Federal Reserve Board, Reuters reports.
“Moore, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, helped write Trump’s signature tax plan. The position would give him a vote at the policy-setting table of an institution whose interest-rate hikes last year were a frequent target of Trump’s ire.”
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jay Powell was interviewed by Scott Pelley on 60 Minutes:
PELLEY: “Can the president fire you?”
POWELL: “Well, the law is clear that I have a four-year term. And I fully intend to serve it.”
PELLEY: “So no, in your view?”
POWELL: “No.”
Bloomberg: “Cain, 73, was in the White House on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. Two seats on the Fed board are vacant, but nominating Cain raises the prospect of a Senate confirmation hearing focused on the sexual harassment and infidelity accusations that ended his presidential campaign.”
“Cain had a long corporate career and is also familiar with the Federal Reserve system. From 1992 to 1996, he served as a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, as well as deputy chairman and then chairman.”
Politico: “Top Wall Street executives would mostly love to be rid of President Donald Trump. But they are getting panicked about the prospect of an ultra-liberal Democratic nominee bent on raising their taxes and slapping new regulations on their firms. The result is a kind of nervous paralysis of executives pining for a centrist nominee like Michael Bloomberg while realizing such an outcome is highly unlikely from a party veering sharply to the left.”
“Early support from deep-pocketed financial executives could give Democrats seeking to break out of the pack an important fundraising boost. But any association with bankers also opens presidential hopefuls to sharp attacks from an ascendant left.”
“President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, is overseeing the internal search for a nominee to lead the World Bank — but is not herself a candidate for the job, according to the White House,” Politico reports.
“The World Bank’s current president, Jim Yong Kim, announced last week that he will step down next month, touching off speculation about his replacement.”
The Financial Times reported that Ivanka Trump’s name was “floating around Washington” as one possibility.
Politico: “The assignment, which lawmakers say they expect her to receive, would pit the 29-year-old New Yorker not only against banks that make up a major local industry but also potentially against business-friendly Democrats who have backed financial deregulation.”
“Some moderate Democrats have privately raised concerns that they’ll be targeted by the former bartender-turned-progressive icon, whose willingness to challenge her party’s establishment propelled her to Congress and the national spotlight.”
“Americans’ predictions for the stock market this year are almost completely determined by party, with Democrats as pessimistic about the coming year’s stock performance as Republicans are optimistic,” according to an Axios/SurveyMonkey poll.
“The two parties are almost exact mirror images of each other, with independents caught in the middle. It’s a good reminder of how much people’s political views can shape their expectations for their personal finances, not just politics.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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