Trump's Fed Appointments - Cain, Moore and Others Failed Attempts

[Gustaf]

I didn't see a thread on this, pardon if I missed it. After Herman Cain (lol) had to withdraw Trump proposed Stephen Moore, founder of the Club for Growth and columnist/commentator on economic issues.

I was Reading this interview with Moore: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/trump-pick-stephen-moore-lays-out-his-vision-for-the-federal-reserve

Now, I'm not at all specialized in monetary policy but...this guy has no idea about it. As in, he would embarass himself at an intermediate undergrad macro course. Do conservatives genuinely Believe these people understand any economics? Luckily he withdrew, but the Fed kind of matters for the economy. I find it worrying if Trump gets to fill it with complete idiots.

[Gustaf]

I didn't see a thread on this, pardon if I missed it. After Herman Cain (lol) had to withdraw Trump proposed Stephen Moore, founder of the Club for Growth and columnist/commentator on economic issues.

I was Reading this interview with Moore: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/economy/trump-pick-stephen-moore-lays-out-his-vision-for-the-federal-reserve

Now, I'm not at all specialized in monetary policy but...this guy has no idea about it. As in, he would embarass himself at an intermediate undergrad macro course. Do conservatives genuinely Believe these people understand any economics? Luckily he withdrew, but the Fed kind of matters for the economy. I find it worrying if Trump gets to fill it with complete idiots.

1.They were actually chosen to fill two separate positions, Moore didn't replace Cain.

2.I agree with you on Stephen Moore, but he is actually reported to have a masters in economics from George Mason University. He makes so many idiotic and factually wrong comments on basic economic matters that I can't believe he didn't make a false claim about having this masters, but its hard to believe George Mason University wouldn't have pointed mentioned something by now.

There are a number of rather entertaining discussions on youtube between Catherine Rampell and Stephen Moore that highlight Moore's basic lack of knowledge on economic concepts and terms.  In one discussion, he refers to the 'Volcker rule' as 'Volcker's view that when commodity prices rise, that the Fed should raise its Federal Fund rate.'

In fact, this is the Volcker rule: The Volcker Rule prohibits banks from using customer deposits for their own profit. They can't own, invest in, or sponsor hedge funds, private equity funds, or other trading operations for their use. The rule is section 619 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act of 2010.

In another example, she pointed out that Moore seemed to not understand the difference between deflation, which is an ongoing reduction in prices, and disinflation, which is a reduction in the rate of inflation (say from 2% to 1%.)

The main takedown of Stephen Moore, is his concern trolling during the Obama Administration that the low Federal Funds rate would lead to hyper-inflation, but, as soon as Trump became President, he argued that the Federal Funds rate needed to remain low to allow the economy to grow.

Stephen Moore is a dishonest hyper-partisan hack who seems to have no understanding of economic terms or basic concepts, but he really does have a masters in economics.

1. I'm aware of that, though I guess I could have phrased it more clearly. As I recall, Cain wasn't even the first candidate Trump proposed for the position.

2. Also aware of the George Mason master. They should say something actually - although it's heavily political, I still had the impression they took their academic work reasonably seriously. This reflects pretty poorly on them.

And yeah the stuff on targeting the interest rate boggles the mind. Absolutely fantastic someone like that could ever be considered for the Fed.