U.S. President Donald Trump last week named Jerome Powell as his nominee for chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of the United States. Powell is a solid, conventional choice, who will provide more continuity than change in policy at the world's most influential central bank. That is reassuring at a time when disruption seems to prevail in policymaking in Washington.
While Janet Yellin, the current chairperson, has only had one four-year term — all her predecessors since the late 1970s served two — she was a frequent target of Trump during the 2016 campaign. Candidate Trump accused her of "being political" by keeping interest rates low to help the administration of President Barack Obama, and asserting that the policy had created bubbles in the stock market that would cause problems when rates had to rise. Since taking office, however, the president has had no issues with Wall Street's strong performance and has repeatedly taken credit for it. When he announced Powell's nomination last week, he complimented Yellen for doing "a terrific job."
That was not enough to win her a second term, however. That reflects Trump's desire to put his stamp on as many institutions of the U.S. government as he can, along with a reflexive desire to be rid of anything or anyone that shows his predecessor's influence.