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WASHINGTON – Senior White House officials on Sunday defended President Donald Trump's plan to appoint two political loyalists to the Federal Reserve's board of governors, removing controversy over their personal lives and qualifications to help manage the most powerful bank. central of the world.
White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow and White House acting head of state Mick Mulvaney used appearances in TV debates on Sunday morning to defend Trump's plan to name the economic commentator Stephen Moore and the businessman and former presidential candidate, Herman Cain.
"The President is standing behind these two gentlemen right now," Kudlow said of CNN's "State of the Union."
"We have two open seats. The president has every right to appoint people who share his economic philosophy. "
Trump sharply criticized Fed Chairman Jerome Powell after a series of interest rate hikes and other measures taken last year to prevent an economy from developing as a "rocket".
Rate hikes left the central bank's target interest rate still low by historical standards, and monetary policy makers were seen as cautious protection against the return of inflation in an economy whose growth was faster than expected last year. Maintaining control of inflation is one of the Fed's key missions. Higher rates can do this by discouraging borrowing and spending.
But "there is no inflation," Kudlow said. Instead, it was feared that the central bank would ignore the weakness of the global economy and a certain financial tightening of the market, which made monetary policy too restrictive.
The Fed said it was low inflation, global growth and financial volatility that led it to suspend further rate hikes and change other policies last year.
Kudlow nonetheless said the president was convinced that the Fed was fundamentally flawed in its view that, at one point, a very low unemployment rate would drive up inflation.
This idea "has been refuted for decades," he said. "We think that more people who work and succeed do not cause inflation."
"President Trump has every right to place members of the Federal Reserve with a different point of view," said Kudlow. "He wants the Fed members to share his philosophy. This is not a political issue. It's a question of how do you see the world. "
Cain and Moore have not yet been formally appointed, pending the completion of background checks, and should be confirmed by the US Senate.
They will likely face questions about a series of issues, including allegations of badual harbadment that prompted Cain to withdraw from the 2012 presidential race. He denied the allegations. His current position in a pro-Trump political action committee has also attracted attention.
Democratic senators have already asked Moore to produce information and documents about a $ 75,000 lien filed by the Internal Revenue Service against him for tax arrears. He was also charged with contempt of court in 2013 for late payment of alimony and child support.
As far as politics is concerned, both have been criticized as overtly political choices whose conceptions of the economy have been modified according to the party in power, and which, critics say, would strive to define a monetary policy based on account of Trump's short-term political interests.
Mulvaney said Cain "would be a great member of the Fed."
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