The Federal Reserve is often viewed as a neutral guardian of the economy, tasked with safeguarding employment and ensuring stable prices. However, the Fed is run by individuals who, like anyone else, are swayed by certain motivations. Do the people behind the Fed truly have the incentive to remain impartial? Our guest commentator demystifies the notion of ‘Fed neutrality,’ revealing the intersections of politics and policy within its operations.
Peter recently appeared on OAN’s Real America with Dan Ball to discuss the minimum wage, government spending, and inflation. He first points out the blatant corruption of the California state government, which recently passed a $20 minimum wage for all fast-food restaurants except those that bake their own bread. The state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has received several large campaign donations from the owner of many Panera Bread franchises in California, causing Newsom’s critics to question the motives of such an exception. Peter also points out that, under Newsom’s logic, such an exemption will actually hurt Panera’s employees. If minimum wages are so helpful to workers, why exempt Panera at all?
The Federal Reserve not only runs US monetary policy with its interest rate manipulations and its quantitative easing program; it also “regulates” financial institutions. That’s why the fact that several Fed members made multiple multimillion-dollar stock trades in 2020 even as the central bank was putting its big fat thumb on the economic scales is more than a little problematic.
