FEDERAL RESERVE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Stepping up his attacks on the Federal Reserve, President Donald Trump declared Tuesday [10-16-18] that the Fed is ‘my biggest threat’ because he thinks it’s raising interest rates too quickly. Trump said he doesn’t speak with Chairman Jerome Powell because of the Fed’s political independence but said. ‘I’m not happy with what he’s doing because it’s going too fast’ in raising rates at a time when inflation has remained relatively low. Asked about his decision as president to replace Janet Yellen with Powell, Trump said: ‘Can I be honest, I’m not blaming anybody. I put him there and maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong but I put him there.’ Trump made his comments in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Trish Regan. Critics have expressed concern that his continual attacks on the Fed, which began in the summer, threaten its need to operate free of political pressure from the White House or elsewhere to properly manage interest rate policy.”
–The Associated Press, “Trump Escalates His Attacks on Fed: ‘My Biggest Threat’,” The New York Times online, October 16, 2018