00:00Dr. Myron, do presidents,
00:07any president, generally appoint their enemies?
00:13Thank you, Senator, for the question.
00:16Don't thank me. It just takes up time.
00:19I believe that when they nominate them, they-
00:22Do they generally appoint their enemies?
00:24They don't believe they are when they're making-
00:27Do presidents, any president,
00:30generally appoint people that they agree with
00:35on social and economic policy?
00:38I believe that presidents appoint people whose-
00:41That's a yes, isn't it?
00:41Yes.
00:42Because we live in the real world, don't we?
00:44Yes.
00:48Are you personally responsible
00:50for everything President Trump says?
00:53No, my role as the chairman of the-
00:55Before President Trump says something
00:58as president of the United States,
01:00does he call you up and say,
01:01Stephen, I'm about to say this and I want your approval.
01:04Does he do that?
01:05Never.
01:07And after the president says something,
01:11does he call you up and say,
01:13Stephen, was that okay?
01:14Are you okay with this?
01:15Nope. I have an advisory role.
01:17Okay.
01:18Now, sometimes, intelligent adults, reasonable people disagree.
01:24Is that true?
01:26Very often.
01:28Is it part of your job description,
01:31when you disagree with something the president says,
01:35to call a press conference and say,
01:37he's wrong about this and let me explain to you why?
01:40Is that part of your job description?
01:43Not a CH-
01:44Is that part of the job description of any aid
01:47that you know of to President Biden?
01:50No.
01:51How about for President Obama?
01:53No.
01:54How about for President Clinton?
01:56No.
01:57We don't live in La La Land, do we?
02:00Do we?
02:01No.
02:02Now, monetary policy is important
02:08and the Fed is in charge of it,
02:09but monetary policy is not the only thing that's important.
02:12Fiscal policy is important, isn't it?
02:15Fiscal policy is extremely important.
02:17And I don't care how low the Federal Reserve lowers interest rates.
02:24If the United States Congress is profligate in its spending,
02:31if it spends money like it's pond water,
02:34if it runs up $37 trillion in debt and deficit spends to the tune of 7% every year,
02:42that also has an impact on employment and economic growth and inflation, does it not?
02:50Absolutely.
02:51And I think people often make a mistake by looking solely at monetary policy
02:54when fiscal policy is a huge driver.
02:57And in fact, the Federal Reserve can lower short-term rates
03:05through the Open Market Committee all you want.
03:09But that doesn't necessarily mean that long rates 10 years and above are going to go down, does it?
03:15Not necessarily.
03:16Right.
03:17Because if the bond market counts too, doesn't it?
03:22Of course.
03:23If the bond – you can lower rates as low as you want to,
03:25but if the bond market thinks that inflation is on the horizon,
03:30those rates are going to keep going up or at least stay steady.
03:34Isn't that accurate?
03:35Yes, the Federal Reserve does not control the long end of the yield curve.
03:39Okay.
03:39So what Congress does matters, doesn't it?
03:41Hugely.
03:47My good friend Senator Warren says you're Donald Trump's puppet.
03:53Are you Donald Trump's puppet?
03:55Not at all.
03:56I'm very independently minded, as shown by my willingness to stray from consensus
04:00and have out-of-consensus views, and I believe that, you know,
04:04I will continue to be as independent, you know, in my thinking process, if confirmed.
04:13We're going to hold you to that, Governor, future Governor.
04:19You need to call them like you see them.
04:22There's nothing wrong with politicians in Washington offering their opinions.
04:27You can't stop them.
04:33But we need a monetary plan that was put together by something other than vodka and darts.
04:44And that's what we had the Federal Reserve for.
04:47Now, you're going to get a lot of advice from politicians.
04:50I'm not saying they're always wrong.
04:52Well, even a blind chicken finds a mealworm now and then.
04:58But you've got to call them like you see them.
05:03And ignore, nothing wrong with people giving their advice,
05:07but ignore all the rhetoric from all politicians.
05:11Will you give me that commitment?
05:12I do commit to that.
05:14Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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