WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell defended the central bank’s response to Sunday during the Covid-19 pandemic in a speech from Princeton University.
Powell and the central bank are the subject of this Wide range of criticism in Last few weeks by President Donald Trump and potential successor, former Fed Gov. Kevin Worsh.
Speaking at Baccalaureate’s services ahead of its opening Tuesday, Powell, who said he graduated from Princeton 50 years ago, specifically defended the central bank’s decision to cut key interest rates. Almost to zero In response to the pandemic. It also launched an asset purchasing program that includes the purchase of trillion dollars of financial obligations and mortgage-backed securities aimed at keeping long-term interest rates low.
“There’s been a huge halt for the economy around the world with few warnings,” Powell said, referring to the pandemic. “The long, harsh global depression potential has been staring at us in the face. Everyone has turned to the government, and the Federal Reserve as a particularly important first responder.”
Powell also picked out longtime government officials for praise. “A career Fed civil servant who is a veteran of a previous crisis has moved on and said, ‘We’ve got this,” he said.
Trump has been exposed to Powell for months in the flow of attacks. The key rate has not been changed After three cuts this year at the end of 2024, Trump says “no inflation” so the Fed should be reduced Borrowing costs.
Earlier this month, Trump called Powell a “fool” for not cutting back, and last week called the Fed Chairman “Powell too late.”
Powell had not responded to Trump’s attack. Trump’s attacks have previously won his support among Capitol Hill Republicans.
In his Sunday speech, he defended American universities. American universities are under sharp attacks from the Trump administration as research grants and other funds have been cut. Princeton.
“Our great universities are the world’s vy hopes and important national assets,” Powell said. “Look around you. I encourage you to not take this for granted.”
At the end of last month, Warsh, who served as one of the Fed governors from 2006 to 2011, denounced the central bank in 2022 for bringing the highest level of inflationary spikes in 40 years.
“Every time the Fed jumps into action, its size and range increases,” Warsh said in a speech on the bystanders of the International Monetary Fund’s spring meeting. “More debt is accumulated… More institutional boundaries cross and the Fed is forced to act more aggressively next time.”
The Fed does not issue debts, but Warsh and other Fed critics argue that the Treasury bond purchases allow them to borrow and spend more on the federal government.
Powell admitted that the Fed may have moved faster to raise interest rates after inflation began to rise in 2021. Still, on Sunday he defended the Fed’s pandemic record.
“Through the collaborative efforts of many, we avoided the worst outcome,” Powell said. “It’s hard to imagine the pressure people face like that. Their collective efforts save our economy, and the career civil servants involved deserve our respect and gratitude. It’s my great honor to serve them with them.”
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The story was revised to show that Powell spoke at Princeton’s Baccalaureate Service, not a planned start on Tuesday.
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