Boston Fed: Federal Reserve Independence Has Been Eroded

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said Wednesday that rifts between the Federal Reserve and the White House have begun to erode public trust in the central bank’s apolitical standing — one of the most direct warnings to date from a top monetary policy official about the fallout from former President Trump’s hardline stance on the Fed. In a farewell essay ahead of his February-end retirement from the Atlanta Fed, Bostic noted his colleagues across the Fed system remain committed to separating their work from politics. “But visits over the past few months have made clear that legal and verbal sparring over the central bank has led people from all walks of life to question the Fed’s independence — a development that’s deeply concerning,” he wrote. Bostic isn’t the only Fed official this year to stress the importance of central bank independence, but no one has directly warned as he did Wednesday that the ongoing string of controversies could weaken public confidence in the institution. (Golden Ten)