Trump Offers Fed Board Position to Economic Commentator Stephen Moore

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: The Wall Street Journal.

Trump Offers Fed Board Position to Economic Commentator Stephen Moore
Moore still has to clear background-check process typical for White House nominees, senior administration official says

By Nick Timiraos
https://twitter.com/NickTimiraos
Updated March 22, 2019 12:36 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON--President Trump said Friday he intends to nominate former campaign adviser Stephen Moore to serve on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors.

Mr. Trump told reporters about his plans after landing in Florida, where he is spending the weekend. Mr. Trump made the offer to Mr. Moore earlier this week, an administration official said.

Read more: https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-offers-fed-board-position-to-economic-commentator-stephen-moore-11553265752

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Trump says he will nominate Fed critic Stephen Moore for central bank appointment

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/22/trump-reportedly-considering-stephen-moore-for-fed-appointment.html

President Donald Trump is looking to appoint economic commentator Stephen Moore to a vacant Federal Reserve governor position.
Moore has been a Trump supporter since the 2016 election and recently wrote a book endorsing the president's economic approach.

Jeff Cox @JeffCoxCNBCcom
https://twitter.com/JeffCoxCNBCcom
Published 2 Hours Ago Updated 28 Mins Ago

President Donald Trump is set to offer a position on the Federal Reserve to economic commentator and former campaign advisor Stephen Moore, CNBC has learned. ... The president is waiting for Moore to get through the nominee clearance process.

"I could just say that I've been talking to some people about it, but I've not been formally offered a position," Moore told CNBC. "If I were offered it, I would do it."

Moore, 59, currently is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and former Wall Street Journal editorial board member and has been a Trump supporter since the 2016 election. In October 2018, he released the book with economist Art Laffer, "Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy."

Moore also has been a frequent Fed critic, saying the central bank's policies of keeping short-term rates near zero and buying bonds to stimulate growth were misguided and would spur inflation. ... "If I were to do it I would certainly want to try to influence the Fed to a stable dollar and pro-growth monetary policy," he told CNBC.
....

--CNBC's Kayla Tausche contributed reporting.

[Vinca]

1. Figures. He's among the list of top ten crazies so clearly Don wants him.

[Turbineguy]

2. CNBC hard at work jawboning a recession

A recession might distract from the Mueller report. Trump's mantra: Fuck the country before the country holds you to account!

[Historic NY]

3. "Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy."

Its killing it.

[Lonestarblue]

4. All I had to read was the name Art Laffer.

Until Trump was elected, I never knew it was possible to cram so many incompetent, right-wing nutcases in one administration.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Oh, you don't have to set the WABAC Machine too far back to find another example of that. NT

[William Seger]

6. Yup - who else would jump on the Trump crazy train anyway

... except right-wing nutcases.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Wikipedia:

I knew George Mason University would be involved in this.

Stephen Moore (writer)

Alma mater: University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BA), George Mason University (MA)
Known for Founding President of the Club for Growth
Member of the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal
Chief Economist of the Heritage Foundation
Political party: Republican

Stephen Moore (born February 16, 1960) is an American writer and economic policy analyst. He founded and served as president of the Club for Growth from 1999 to 2004. Moore is a former member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board. In 2014, The Heritage Foundation announced that Moore would become its chief economist. In 2015, Moore's title at The Heritage Foundation changed from Chief Economist to his current title, Distinguished Visiting Fellow. Moore is known for advocating pro-business policies and supply-side economics. In 2017, he left Fox News Channel to join CNN as an economics analyst.

Moore's work continues to appear regularly in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, and various publications including The Weekly Standard and National Review.

Education

Moore grew up in New Trier Township, Illinois. He attended Saints Faith Hope & Charity School in Winnetka and graduated from New Trier High School in 1978. He received a B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign and an M.A. from George Mason University in economics.

Career

From 1983 to 1987, Moore served as the Grover M. Hermann Fellow in Budgetary Affairs at the Heritage Foundation. In 1987, Moore was research director of President Ronald Reagan's Privatization Commission. Moore spent ten years as a fellow of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. As senior economist of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee under Chairman Dick Armey of Texas, Moore was said to be "instrumental in creating the FairTax proposal".

Moore founded the Club for Growth in 1999. Moore was ousted by the group's board in December 2004 and subsequently announced his resignation. After his ouster from the Club for Growth, Moore founded the 501(c)(4) Free Enterprise Fund with other former Club for Growth members including Arthur Laffer and Mallory Factor. In 2005, Moore left the Free Enterprise Fund to serve on the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. Moore is a partner in the econometrics firm Arduin, Laffer & Moore Econometrics. On January 21, 2014, the Heritage Foundation announced that Moore would rejoin the think tank as chief economist. Moore is a contributing editor for National Review.

In the 2014 Kansas City Star opinion piece "What's the matter with Paul Krugman?" Moore responded to Krugman's opinion piece "Charlatans, Cranks and Kansas." Moore claimed that job creation had been superior in low-taxation states during the five years ending June 2009 following the recession. After substantial factual errors were uncovered in Moore's opinion piece, the Kansas City Star indicated that it would no longer print Moore's work without "thorough factchecking." Miriam Pepper, editor of the Kansas City Star, decided to stop publishing Moore's work for its inaccurate statements. Jonathan Chait, in his New York magazine column, in response to Moore's February 15, 2015 Washington Times column on Obamacare, stated, "Perhaps the most revealing aspect of Moore's column is the fact that, five years after its [Obamacare's] passage, the chief economist of the most influential conservative think tank in the United States [the Heritage Foundation] lacks even a passing familiarity with its [Obamacare's] fiscal objectives."

In May 2015, Moore cofounded the Committee to Unleash American Prosperity with Laffer, Larry Kudlow, and Steve Forbes, with the stated mission of "persuading the presidential hopefuls in both parties to focus on the paramount challenge facing our country: slow growth and stagnant incomes."

Moore served as one of the top economic advisers to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

[Yavin4]

8. Aaaaaaaannnnddd this is why I own physical gold and silver

This + Brexit = crazy people having too much say over the global economy.

[dsc]

9. If Moore follows through on what he claims to believe

Trump might well be very sorry for appointing him. He favors higher interest rates which would hurt the economy. Now I highly doubt he would be intellectually honest enough to actually raise the rates while Trump was in charge, but who knows.

[sandensea]

10. The world's worst economist.

Some may remember Moore for arguably being the loudest cheerleader on cable news for the "Bush boom is just getting started" crowd.

In 2007.

[Power 2 the People]

14. Fits right in. Has never been right about anything.

Total buffoon who gets exposed on every non-Fox show he appears on.

[sandensea]

17. True that.

Moore reminds me of those characters in some '80s shlock movies, the rejected teen types that, 20 years later, lure their former classmates into a deadly trap in order to get back at them.

Except of course, the sniveling little weasel would like to do that to his entire country.

[TheBlackAdder]

11. Man, that guy is a twit!

[displacedtexan]

12. I just invested a meager inheritance in a cannabis corporation.

The way I figure it, even if the economy collapses...again, more people will be buying weed & weed products than ever before. Hope I'm right!

[EveHammond13]

13. this is the guy who said women should stay out of the workforce if they can't stop

complaining about sex harassment

[mahatmakanejeeves]

15. I just wrote about Stephen Moore's book TRUMPONOMICS, which was not particularly impressive:

DefamatoryCowHat Retweeted

If titling it TRUMPONOMICS to get Trump's attention and a seat on the Federal Reserve was the goal, it succeeded impressively.

I should write a book called DONALD TRUMP, LAWGIVER.Patrick Nonwhite added,
Carlos Lozada

Link to tweet

I just wrote about Stephen Moore's book TRUMPONOMICS, which was not particularly impressive: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/book-party/wp/2019/03/15/feature/other-presidents-had-a-brain-trust-but-the-intellectuals-backing-this-white-house-are-a-bust/?utm_term=.a552775d667e …

Link to tweet

Thinking for Trump
Other presidents had a brain trust. But the intellectuals backing this White House are a bust.

By Carlos Lozada
MARCH 15, 2019
....

Stephen Moore and Arthur Laffer disagree with some of Trump’s hard-line positions on immigration and worry about his trade protectionism. “To say the least, Donald Trump is a work in progress on trade,” they admit. “He is playing a high-stakes game of poker here with a big upside. But if it doesn’t work, the ramifications scare us to death.” ... So why did the veteran conservative economists sign on as advisers for Trump’s 2016 campaign, and why did they write a book — titled “Trumponomics” and published late last year — enthusiastically defending the economic policies and instincts of a leader who thinks trade wars are good and easy to win? The answer is simple: “We liked his tax plan.”

Forget single-issue voters; Moore and Laffer are single-issue thinkers. Cutting taxes is the siren that lured them to Trump, and for which they appear willing to make any substantive or intellectual sacrifices. The authors recount their role in helping shape the 2017 tax bill — they’re especially proud of their op-eds, which they quote extensively in the book, along with praise thereof — and reiterate their belief that tax cuts and deregulation will unleash so much economic activity that hard choices melt away. “We have always believed that the shrewdest way to make entitlement programs solvent is to restore rapid growth,” they write. And they swoon over Trump’s “unyielding optimism” about the nation’s economic potential, even when he embraces growth projections that the two economists consider unrealistic.

Though Moore and Laffer support Trump’s call to drain the Washington swamp, they are selective about what makes it through the sewer. For instance, they praise Trump’s campaign meeting with chief executives of leading banks, manufacturing enterprises, tech firms, retailers and energy companies in May 2016. “Everyone was asked to pinpoint the one thing the feds could do to make their lives easier,” the authors recall. And they highlight Trump’s refusal to end the deductibility of interest on business debt as part of his tax proposal, on the grounds that it would be bad for the business he liked best. “We were a little surprised at how firm he was in this rejection,” Moore and Laffer write. “But after we argued for five minutes he put his foot down. ‘Look, I’ve spent my whole life doing real estate deals. Every one of them was financed by debt. I hate this idea.’?” Those waters remain pretty slimy.

Much like Hanson, who argues that only Trump himself could have followed his formula to victory, Moore and Laffer regard Trump as a unique figure, restoring American growth and greatness by force of personality. “The message required the right messenger,” they write. And the economists gush over that messenger, as all Trump acolytes must. The president is “very charismatic,” “clever,” “gutsy” and “the greatest marketer of modern times,” they rhapsodize. “What a showman! What a gifted orator.” They even assure that Trump fosters “honest and fair-minded policy debates,” contradicting copious reporting on how the president reaches conclusions.

The messenger’s message, however, gets squishy. Moore and Laffer outline the principles of Trump populism, but many are mere slogans. Always put America first. Restore American patriotism. Reject declinism. Lead by example. Spurn identity politics. No matter that Trump’s campaign retrofitted identity politics onto his base. In this telling, any of Trump’s missteps are someone else’s fault. Moore and Laffer blame the Republican Congress, for instance, for delaying the tax cut and attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act as the first order of business in 2017 — perhaps forgetting that Trump himself promised, a week before the election, that he would “very, very quickly” replace Obamacare. And Moore personally urged Trump to simply do the opposite of whatever Obama did on economic policy. It’s the kind of advice one gives to a leader who stands for little beyond tearing others down.
....

Carlos Lozada is the nonfiction book critic of The Washington Post. He has also served as The Post’s economics editor, national security editor and Outlook editor. He received the 2015 National Book Critics Circle’s citation for excellence in reviewing. Follow @CarlosLozadaWP

[mahatmakanejeeves]

16. Scoop on how this went down:

“He wrote a book called TRUMPONOMICS, that means he must like me. I wanna hire him.” Trump, probably.

Link to tweet

Close enough.

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

18. Econ community goes berserk over Trump's "terrible, horrible" Fed board pick

Link to tweet

[Gothmog]

19. Trump offers Fed job to an 'idiot' who called for him to be awarded the Nobel Prize

Link to tweet

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

20. The guy is a fucking idiot

And he has the kind of face you just want to punch.

[The Wizard]

21. A buffoon

[nitpicker]

22. From The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/22/stephen-moore-federal-reserve-paul-erickson-maria-butina

Trump's Federal Reserve pick linked to indicted boyfriend of Russian agent

Jon Swaine in New York

Fri 22 Mar 2019 23.27 GMT

Donald Trump’s new nominee for the Federal Reserve Board created a controversial political group with Paul Erickson, a conservative operative charged with fraud whose girlfriend pleaded guilty to being a Russian agent.

Stephen Moore and Erickson founded the not-for-profit Citizens for the Republic to advocate for Reaganite policies during the 2008 election, according to records from the time. Moore was president and Erickson was executive director.

The group changed its name to American Issues Project and in August 2008 mounted an aggressive advertising campaign tying Barack Obama to William Ayers, a leader of the Weather Underground domestic terror group in the 1970s. Obama and Ayers had served together on the board of an education foundation in Chicago.
(snip)

Trump announced on Friday that he would nominate Moore, 59, for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board. Moore is likely to face sharp questioning from Democratic senators over his stridently political writings and remarks.

The president said Moore, a frequent commentator on cable television, was a “very respected economist”. But he was criticised as “manifestly unqualified” for the role by Justin Wolfers, a professor of economics at the University of Michigan, among others.
(snip)

[mahatmakanejeeves]

23. "Moore is likely to face sharp questioning from Democratic senators..."

and be confirmed anyway.

[cstanleytech]

25. Yup as the Repugnant Senators do not want to lead anymore rather they want to tear it all down

and burn it.

[stuffmatters]

24. Trump chose nat'l economic laughingstock Moore for Fed Board over Herman 999 Cain!

That was the rumor.