Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell seemingly outed himself as an unlikely member of the anti-Trump deep-state resistance, when he told reporters he had no intention of quitting as the Fed chief if President Trump asked him to go.

According to CNN Business:

When a reporter asked the Fed chair if he’d resign if Trump asked him to, Powell didn’t miss a beat.

“No,” he replied curtly, without elaborating on that question.

Another reporter subsequently asked if a president could fire or demote him.

“Not permitted under the law,” Powell fired back. “Not what?” the reporter responded. “Not permitted under the law,” said Powell, a lawyer himself, this time pausing for emphasis after each word.

The tone and brevity of his answers to the two reporters marked an obvious shift from the thoughtful responses he typically has when fielding questions from reporters.

It puzzled many because Trump never said anything about getting rid of him and he has since said he has no plans to. There had been clashes in Trump's previous administration with Trump threatening to fire him over COVID expenditures, which he can only do "for cause" rather than policy differences. He didn't get rid of him.

Brian Wesbury, a Wall Street economist of very sound free-market views, thinks it was a strange way to reply:

At his press conference, Powell said NO he wouldn’t quit, and he couldn’t be fired. But the defiance in his voice was palpable.

Count me as believing that politicians should not be put in charge of monetary policy. But, for the life of me I cannot figure out why Jerome Powell…

— Brian Wesbury (@wesbury) November 8, 2024

He and others have pointed out that on Powell's watch, the Fed has been spending up a storm on its own account, something that never happened in the past.

Wesbury specifically mentions that the Fed also gone into assorted green and DEI political projects, as if it's no longer interested in its core mission of setting monetary policy.

Economists such as Steve Hanke have pointed out in the past that it is not following critical indicators of inflation such as the M2 and M4 money supply, a very disturbing thing in a Fed whose mandate is to control inflation. You can't control inflation if you don't follow the money supply as inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.

One last thing that disturbs me is the number of insider-trading and other corruption cases of Fed officials. In 2022, Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida stepped down in an inside trading scandal. There have been several smaller fry fired or forced to resign since then.

The Fed is independent of other government agencies, and is officially owned by the banks it regulates, but the White House appoints the chair. Powell's term ends in May 2026, about a year into Trump's coming term. There are arguments as to how much authority Trump has to fire him at all. It ought not be an issue since Trump said he wasn't going to do it, and in any case Powell's term lasts only about 15 months into Trump's second term.

Some think that with all these problems seen with the Fed, they've now gone deep-state on us, and Powell's strangely adamant reply indicates mischief in the works:

Former Rep. Ron Paul, who has been invited by Elon Musk to join the new administration, and who said he'd be open to if asked, doesn't think there should be a Fed at all:

This week, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell was asked if he would step down if President Trump asked him to resign. Powell answered “No.” The law does not permit the president to fire the Fed chairman.

Powell didn’t mention, however, that The Federal Reserve is unconstitutional to… pic.twitter.com/0GdIpUnZbX

— Ron Paul (@RonPaul) November 8, 2024

Maybe that's what this is really about. One hopes for peace between the two with Powell not messing things up too badly in the short time he has left. But obviously, there are ominous signs that just keep piling up about some kind of meltdown at the Fed. Maybe it is time for Elon and Paul to take a look. And there could be a showdown.

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