Jerome Powell’s Future
Critics build their case against Powell
By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jason Karaian, Sarah Kessler, Stephen Gandel, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni and Anna Schaverien
Jay Powell, the Fed chair, has been praised for how he used the central bank’s powers to steer the economy through the pandemic. His term as chair expires in February, and insiders say that he has a good chance of being reappointed. But the decision is subject to an unusually high level of uncertainty, with growing complications around his renomination, The Times’s Jeanna Smialek and Jim Tankersley report. ….Karen Petrou, co-founder of Federal Financial Analytics, said that “the fundamental constructs” of post-crisis regulation remained intact, so debates over Powell’s regulatory role were “big arguments over unremarkable changes.” Powell’s problem is that the biggest risks are now outside the traditional banking system, in fintech, cryptocurrency and other sectors outside the Fed’s authority, Petrou noted. Congress has the power to fix that, but not by sending Powell packing, she said.