35 Comments
User's avatar
D Glen's avatar

Ok, my other fave nerdy civil servant is the Senate Parliamentarian - who decides (among other things) whether or not legislation is budgetary or not, and therefore, if subject to a filibuster vote or a simple majority. (I think, but correct me if I’m wrong). So far, it’s still non-partisan, but that’s what we used to say about the OMB (pre Russell Vought). PS: Will Saletan gets the win with “Tacometer” - he always finds the pony in this ever-growing pile of crap!

Shelfie's avatar

Times are strange. In an era where one party is failing down, we have two members there who stand tall. One living, one dead. Jerome Powell, who actively upholds his constitutional oath to the American people, and Robert Mueller. Whose acts and contributions on behalf of us seem almost unquantifiable, when we consider them as a totality and in their context.

Rudyard Kipling's avatar

Trump never met a government agency that he didn’t try to control or intimidate. I think he may be the only person in the government that is dumber than Tommy Tuberville RFK Jr and Pete Hegseth are in the race to the bottom.Trump’s favorite phrase may be, “You’re fired.” Trump thinks his gut is smarter than anyone. The man who bankrupted several businesses thinks he can give financial advice.

Catherine Gross's avatar

Very well written and entertaining! Thanks for such an enjoyable read, and on economics no less!

GJ Loft ME CA FL IL NE CT MI's avatar

"He wants to be seen, rightly, as a nothing to Trump."

Perfect Catherine. And that really should go for his entire cabinet especially the Attorney General and the Treasury Secretary.

Instead, we have 15 bootlickers trying to shine his shoes better than the next, er, POS.

Lisa Gottschalk's avatar

tacometer- love that.

BOOCH's avatar
3hEdited

"When the index gets higher, a TACO is supposed to be more likely to happen."

Trump has TACO'd twice on U.S. military strikes against Iran energy sites in the last week! At this rate I'm going to be sick of TACOs before Cinco de Mayo even gets here. 🌮

jpg's avatar

Open Question: some think all the public Fed “communication” that Jerome Powell has brought to the markets has been unhelpful or even negative. Should Kevin Warsh put an end to some of it?

Lynn  Bentson's avatar

Since it appears Warsh is an idiot ,based on what thus non economist reads about him , I dont want to hear much if anything from him

Dr. Ron's avatar

Ramp'll Explain

Terry Mc Kenna's avatar

Powell is like many in government. They are experts but channel their experience in managing something important but also difficult. These folks work in a non partisan manner and rarely get all that much attention. The DOJ was full of them. So is the EPA. But they have no value to Trump and his lackeys

Abi Gezunt's avatar

If I wrote that, it would be past tense. DOGE & tRump lackies continue to hollow out the experience & expertise so necessary to good, fair governance. And if the tRump era does end, it will take years to fix. I hope we have Rampell for many years to help us understand the multitude of economic issues ahead.

Terry Mc Kenna's avatar

I did use past tense in the examples. A friend of mine was dogged out of the epaa

Ryan Naismith's avatar

Ever since I was a little kid I was fascinated by government and knew that's what I wanted to do when I grew up. I fantasized about all the jobs: diplomat at State, elected; congressional staffer; apparatchik at the bureau of land management. You name it my nerdy ass considered it for a career.

Except for working at the Federal Reserve. I figured that was too wonky even for me; and I love a good debate about R*

Greg Jankowski's avatar

Powell is playing the long game at least to the end using Charlie's saying clowns with flame throwers is who he is against

Janet Wilson's avatar

And now Trump has given himself 1.25 BILLION of taxpayer dollars without the consent of Congress. Who will be pursuing charges against him?

Frau Katze's avatar

What’s this about? I must have missed it.

Carol Richards's avatar

This is actually fascinating, but I especially like that it explains to me why I admire the man.

Eric's avatar

Ordinarily I'd agree with your contention that the Chairman of the Federal Reserve is not an appropriate recipient of an award such as the Profile In Courage Award.

If only we were living in ordinary times when 95 of the 100 people you stopped on the street would reply with "Jerome who?" if asked if they knew who Jerome Powell was.

I don't view him as a leader of the resistance, but sincerely appreciate his character and yes, his "courage" in standing up for the institution he holds so dear. If only there were more people like him in Washington.

Margaret J Park, M.Div. writer's avatar

Pressure index! Well, at least you gave us an LOL by the end.