The Wall Street Journal on Friday endorsed President Trump’s expected nomination of economist and Newsmax contributor Stephen Moore as “the right man for the job” to serve on the Federal Reserve board.
The editorial noted Trump’s disclosure that he intends to nominate Moore “has triggered a remarkable cascade of derision and condescension from the political left and the poohbahs of the economics academy.”
In response, the Journal’s lead editorial pronounced: “Sounds like he’s the right man for the job.”
Headlined “Steve Moore for the Fed,” the column acknowledged brickbats have been tossed Moore’s way over everything from his academic pedigree to his record on monetary-policy forecasts.
But the left’s real objection, the Journal editorial stated, is his politics. It described Moore as “an evangelist for tax cutting and helped to design Donald Trump’s tax plan,” and added, “For this he can never be forgiven in faculty precincts and by the Beltway economic press corps that is steeped in Keynesian dogma as thoroughly as any faculty lounge.”
The editorial observed that Moore’s jeremiads over interest-rate hikes by the Fed appear prescient.
“Mr. Moore has certainly been proven right in his warning last autumn that the Fed was tightening policy too fast,” it pointed out. “Everyone at the Fed now seems to agree with him.”
In a recent policy reversal, the Fed announced it would not impose the two interest-rate hikes that it originally planned to implement this year.
Among Moore’s many career highlights: He was a co-founder of the Club for Growth, served as the group’s president for many years, and was a senior economist on the Congressional Joint Economic Committee. A senior economist for FreedomWorks, he’s also a frequent contributor to Newsmax magazine.
The Journal editorial confirmed what has been rumored in recent days, namely, that a small parade of mainstream journalists have been inquiring as to the real reason why Moore, a former editorial board member, parted ways with the Journal.
The editorial explained: “It became clear over time that Mr. Moore wanted to be more active in the political fray and sometimes chafed under the Journal’s restraints on political activity and outside speech-making. He had to make a choice of journalism or politics. We agreed to part on friendly terms, Mr. Moore joined the Heritage Foundation, and he still contributes to our pages from time to time.
“If Mr. Moore is formally nominated,” the newspaper added, “we hope Republican Senators don’t fall for the calumny being thrown his way. He was a generous colleague, and as a Fed Governor he might be a useful counter to the group-think at the Eccles Building that has so often been wrong.”
The National Review’s John Fund, himself a former member of the Journal’s editorial board, told Newsmax on Thursday that the reason for the knee-jerk reaction against Moore on the left is simple: “Remember,” says Fund, “Trump appointed him. Therefore he is by definition illegitimate and highly political.”
Fund called the palpable angst over the notion of a pro-Trump economist sitting on the Fed “astonishing.”
“They can’t have heretics in the temple,” he jibed. “Heretics will cause people to lose faith in the magical powers of the Fed.”
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