Later this afternoon, Donald Trump is scheduled to announce Jerome Powell as the new Fed Chairman.
The Fed Chair is considered by many as the second most powerful position in the United States government.
(behind only the President of the United States)
The role of the Fed Chair is to be the voice of the institution that is tasked with keeping the economy on track.
This change comes at an important time in the country's economic recovery as unemployment is at a 16 year low but wage increases have been mostly stagnant.
Some specifics:
The previous Fed Chair was Janet Yellen.
Donald Trump has chosen to forgo her second term and instead bring in Jerome Powell.
However, even though there is a change, Powell is likely to stay the course of current monetary policy.
The announcement will be made official this afternoon at 3 pm EST at a Rose Garden ceremony.
The change is somewhat interesting because the previous 3 Fed Chair's were reappointed to a second term. This marks the first time that trend has been broken in some time.
Powell's position on things.
In general, Powell is regarded as the G.O.P version of Janet Yellen. Perfectly comfortable continuing her gradual rate of interest rate hikes.
Powell is a lawyer by training and an investment banker by trade.
He has deep roots in the republican party and in the financial industry.
The one area that he differs from Yellen is in his beliefs that Banks need less regulation as opposed to more in order to get our economy growing robustly again.
These were his remarks on the topic:
"The post crisis reform program has been mostly completed and has mostly been successful. I think it's our obligation now, as we reach completion of it, to look back over it and ask what aspects of it may be redundant or inefficient or utterly essential and should be protected down to every letter. But there are going to be some adjustments and I think that's only appropriate."
He is for less regulation, but only if it doesn't cause reckless behavior to run rampant again.
His thoughts on Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency.
Some have called him a bitcoin skeptic, but from watching and listening to him, I just don't see it.
I would say he is neither pro bitcoin, but more importantly, he is also not against it either.
And that is the big one!
Here was his quote on the topic:
"Nothing against bitcoin, nothing against you know, private currencies.… We generally look at some of the risk of cryptocurrencies associated with money laundering and those sorts of issues but we're not broadly opposed or supportive of alternative currencies. I think from a Fed standpoint, I would say I am very cautious on the idea of a Fed digital currency. That's something central banks are generally looking at, but I would say my approach to that would be very, very cautious."
A few very important takeaways from his statement...
#1 - He is not a fan of state backed cryptocurrencies.
That is huge news at a time when several other large countries are working on exactly that.
#2 - He seems to be looking at regulating bitcoin/cryptocurrencies as opposed to banning them.
Again, this is also big news as well in a time when many others are going the banning route.
The most important point in all of this wasn't actually mentioned in that quote above but was mentioned by him in a previous speech.
It has to do with WHY he said he didn't like the idea of a state backed crypto...
According to Powell, he doesn't like the idea of a state backed crypto because he feels like it will hamper technological innovation.
Say what? You mean someone actually gets it?!
That is the most important part in all of this.
His number one reasoning for not wanting to issue Fedcoin of Govcoin or any other state backed crypto is because he thinks it will hamper technological advancements in the private cryptocurrency/blockchain space.
And he is 100% correct!
This guy actually gets it!
I am not sure about you guys but I am pretty excited about this guy taking up this very important position. It removes one of my major fears regarding bitcoin/cryptocurrency and the possibility of central banks all creating their own and outlawing others.
I think this guy just gave confirmation that the odds of that happening in the United States are slim to none.
He's my kind of guy!
Stay informed my friends.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/business/economy/jerome-powell-federal-reserve-trump.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/01/watch-fed-governor-jay-powell-in-his-own-words-on-monetary-policy-bitcoin.html
All images are courtesy of pixabay.com
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