Investing.com – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Monday took a trip down memory lane, recounting the important role that former Fed Chairman Marriner Eccles played in paving the way for an independent central bank.
- "Perhaps most importantly from my perspective as Fed Chair, (Marriner) is responsible more than any other person for the fact that the United States today has an independent central bank – a central bank able to make decisions in the long-term best interest of the economy, without regard to the political pressures of the moment," Powell said in a speech at the premiere of KUED's documentary "Marriner Eccles: Father of the Modern Federal Reserve."
- When FDR nominated Marriner to lead the Fed Board in 1934, he accepted on the condition that Roosevelt support a restructuring of the Fed to significantly strengthen the structural independence of the central bank.
- Powell’s remarks come after a wave of criticism from President Donald Trump, who has urged the U.S. central bank to adopt more aggressive easing measures.