Stephen Moore: The case against Jerome Powell

It's hard to believe that a couple years ago Time magazine considered naming Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell as its Person of the Year. He may well have won, if it hadn't been for someone named Taylor Swift.

Powell has been idolized by the Left for one reason: He's been a thorn in the side of President Donald Trump for years. If Trump says "ying," Powell says "yang."

Last week Powell finally lowered the federal funds rate, and better late than never. But his speech to the media was a tirade against Trumponomics. He was filled with doom and gloom in his statement, telling global investors that the economy is growing at only 1.6% so far this year and is expected to grow 1.6% next year.

What country was he talking about? Afghanistan?

Here are the facts: In the second quarter of this year, the U.S. economy grew by 3.3%, and with a few weeks to go in the third quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta is forecasting 3% growth — twice Powell's cracked crystal ball.

Powell also never mentioned that real household incomes are up $1,100 for the first seven months of 2025. He never mentioned that capital investment — the seed corn of a growing economy — has been ramped up, with hundreds of billions pledged next year.

He attacks Trump's tariffs and more restrictive immigration policies as restricting growth — and he has a point that those have slightly slowed growth. But he never mentioned the Trump tax cuts, the immediate expensing for capital purchases (which has spurred an investment boom), the deregulations that could save up to $1 trillion this year, or that Trump's pro-energy policies have increased U.S. production of oil and gas to record highs, or that the area where job growth is way down is in government employment — which is GOOD for the economy.

There's also something almost comical about a Fed chair who let inflation soar by 21% during former President Joe Biden's four years in office — the highest rates in nearly 40 years, dating back to Jimmy Carter's stagflation. He promised inflation was "transitory" — oops. Tell that to people whose grocery bills rose by one-third in four years.

He accommodated the disastrous lockdowns of the economy with nary a word of objection by shoveling trillions of dollars into the economy in 2020 and '21. The result: Americans saw a three-year crash in their after-inflation incomes. It was right and proper that Americans chased Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris out the door, but here we are nine months later, and Powell is still around.

Powell is attacked by Trump as "Too Late Jerome." But the reality is, he's "Too Wrong Powell." His job, as former World Bank president David Malpass notes, should be "to defend the dollar and keep it stable in value." Steve Forbes adds that Powell has followed the wrongheaded creed of the 300 PhD economists over at the Fed's temple that growth causes inflation.

He has a bully pulpit that can and should be used to attack the dangerous levels of government debt and deficit spending. He rarely does.

Powell's defenders counter any criticism of the Fed by reflexively arguing that the central bank should be independent. Yes.

But it should also be competent and accountable. Under Powell's reign of error, the central bank has been neither. He makes up monetary policy as he goes along, and that has increased the instability of the U.S. economy and financial markets.

He has been a walking billboard for a rules-based monetary policy — perhaps a gold or commodity standard.

Powell should admit he's in over his head and exit stage left now before he does more harm. But he lives in a media-created delusion that he's the last line of defense against Trump. The good news is, at least he will be gone in seven months. Hopefully the next Fed chairman will learn from his series of blunders.