Arthur Laffer: All-Appointed 'Fed Should Not Be Independent'

Because members of the Federal Reserve Board are all appointed by politicians, they should not be independent of the administration, economist and President Donald Trump adviser Arthur Laffer argues.

"The Fed should not be independent of the administration – never should be," Laffer told Sunday's "The Cats Roundtable" on 970 AM-N.Y. "None of those people were elected. They were all appointed.

"And there's no reason for them being appointed. It's a policy tool that should be in the hands of the Congress and the president to make our country better – not in the hands of some Princeton professors who never worked a day in their lives except on an academic papers far from reality. I don't think there should be an independent Fed."

Laffer told host John Catsimatidis he understands the Fed currently proclaims independence, adding Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell "is doing a fine job," despite having raised rates, a move Laffer wishes he had not done because it deflated Trump administration economic growth.

"I'm sure Powell doesn't feel good about Donald Trump," Laffer told Catsimatidis. "But, you know, it's not his job to feel good or bad about Donald Trump.

". . . I think [Powell] feels very besieged. I don't think he has control of his board. And I think that the pressure by the president just really puts a tight squeeze on him. I feel sort of sorry for the man."

Despite the support for Powell, whose "fighting back makes no sense" to Laffer, the Fed had shown no responsibility to the electorate, Laffer laments.

"You can't throw the Fed out of office because their appointed; they're not elected," Laffer said. "They're not responsible to the electorate. I would love to see the administration control the Fed much more that it has."

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