Goolsbee on Powell: I Hope That We Do Not Move into an Environment Where Monetary Independence Is Questioned

EXCERPT:

GOOLSBEE: “Look, I’m glad you didn’t ask me for legal advice, because I have an econ Ph.D. Don’t ever ask legal advice from somebody like me. I would say, monetary independence — before I was ever at the Fed, I was a research economist at the University of Chicago. There’s virtual unanimity among economists that monetary independence from political interference, that the Fed or any Central Bank be able to do the job that it needs to do, is really important. And they came to that not as a theory, but just by looking around the world at places where they don’t have monetary independence. And the fact is, the inflation rate is higher, growth is slower, the job market is worse. So, we really — I strongly hope that we do not move ourselves into an environment where monetary independence is questioned, because that — that would undermine the credibility of the Fed.”