It Ain’t Easy Being Jay Powell
By: Thomas N. Richmond Jr., Co-Head of Wasmer Shroeder Taxable Bond Strategies
If professional athletes carry the weight of the fans and cities on their shoulders while playing their chosen sports, earning both high praise and abject derision based on their actions on the court or the field, imagine the pressure that comes with being a Governor of the US Federal Reserve, or more pointedly, being the Chair of the Open Market Committee (FOMC). Every word you utter publicly, every policy action you undertake, every dot you plot leaves you potentially open to both praise and derision and, at extreme points in economic history, a legacy of either adoration and admiration or scorn and loathing. This fact is neither unexpected nor unjustified as the Fed’s actions, as opposed to a strike out or a dropped pass, can alter lives and livelihoods around the world.
