Threatening Jerome Powell

 

He's going today.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall.

UPDATE 10:16 am:

Yes.  Turner isn't the first to lay the blame on Biden for something in Trump's term.

UPDATE 04:51 pm:

They taped it.  Apparently, PBS still has enough reserves to publish it.

On Thursday, reporters wound through cement mixers, front loaders, and plastic pipes as they got a close-up view of the active construction site that encompasses the Fed’s historic headquarters, known as the Marriner S. Eccles building, and a second building across 20th Street in Washington.

Fed staff, who declined to be identified, said that greater security requirements, rising materials costs and tariffs, and the need to comply with historic preservation measures drove up the cost of the project, which was budgeted in 2022 at $1.9 billion.

The staff pointed out new blast-resistant windows and seismic walls that were needed to comply with modern building codes and security standards set out by the Department of Homeland Security. The Fed has to build with the highest level of security in mind, Fed staff said, including something called “progressive collapse,” in which only parts of the building would fall if hit with explosives.

  PBS

Jeez, are they that concerned about what Trump might do to them?

Plans for the renovation were first approved by the Fed’s governing board in 2017. The project then wended its way through several local commissions for approval, at least one of which, the Commission for Fine Arts, included several Trump appointees. The commission pushed for more marble in the second of the two buildings the Fed is renovating.

[...]

Fed staff also said tariffs and inflationary increases in building material prices drove up costs. Trump in 2018 imposed a 25% duty on steel and 10% on aluminum. He increased them this year to 50%. Steel prices are up about 60% since the plans were approved, while construction materials costs overall are up about 50%, according to government data.

And now Trump is bitching about it and trying to use the cost as a bludgeon against Powell, who really has nothing to do with the building. Also, Powell's term ends in May 2026. (Powell and Stephen Colbert.)

Trump wants Powell to dramatically slash the Fed’s benchmark interest rate under the belief that inflation is not a problem, but Powell wants to see how Trump’s tariffs impact the economy before making any rate cuts that could potentially cause inflation to accelerate.

The renovation project has emerged as a possible justification by Trump to take the extraordinary step of firing Powell for cause.

[...]

The Supreme Court found that Trump had the power to remove board members of other independent agencies, but indicated that a Fed chair could only be removed for cause.

[...]

White House budget director Russell Vought suggested in a July 10 letter to Powell that changes to the renovations in order to save money might have violated the National Capital Planning Act.

What?

“There’s nothing that tells me that he should step down right now,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, whom Trump has floated as a potential replacement for Powell, in a recent interview with Fox Business. “He’s been a good public servant.”

You know Trump heard that, right?

When asked last week if the costly rebuilding could be grounds to fire Powell, Trump said, “I think it sort of is.”

“When you spend $2.5 billion on, really, a renovation,” Trump said, “I think it’s really disgraceful.”

No comment.

Trump said the project cost $3.1 billion, much higher than the Fed’s $2.5 billion figure, while Powell, standing next to him, silently shook his head.

“This came from us?” Powell said, then figuring out that Trump was including the renovation of the Martin Building that was finished five years ago.

“Do you expect any more additional cost overruns?” Trump asked.

“Don’t expect them,” Powell said.

Trump said in his career as a real estate developer he would fire someone for cost overruns. The president joked that he would back off Powell if he lowered interest rates.

  PBS

And...why doesn't the black guy (Tim Scott) get a helmet?

Is it because he stupidly says he wants to come there to see why there are overruns on the cost?  Ask anybody who has done any renovating or building if there were overruns on the estimated cost?  And that's without Trump putting tariffs on building materials.