What Impact Will New Fed Chair Warsh Have on Policy?
During this clip of Ryan Nauman's conversation with DoubleLine's Deputy CIO Jeffrey Sherman, the two discuss the new Fed chair pick Kevin Warsh, Fed independence, the tension between inflation and employment.
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Transcript
Fed chairperson, it's, it's, it's a
really interesting pick to have wars
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:because wars, if you go off his voting
track record and his vocalization of
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:policy, he seems to be antithesis of
what Donald Trump wants of cutting rates.
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:Now, obviously to get the job, you had
to at least tell him that at one point.
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:So I'm sure that happened somewhere.
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:But you know, he, he's, he's
historically been a bit of an
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:inflation hawk, meaning that he has
a higher keener eye on, on inflation,
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:but also he's a balance sheet hawk.
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:He hates the size of
the Fed's balance sheet.
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:And if his objective is to reduce
the size of the balance sheet,
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:that's not helping monetary pay.
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:That's a tightening of policy.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:And so someone has to buy
those treasuries is the point.
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:So.
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:I think that it's an interesting
pick from the standpoint that
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:I think he's qualified for.
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:Sure.
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:Uh, I, I think he's a good pick, but
we'll have to see how, how he behaves.
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:And I say that because when you
get into like the Trump orbit, you
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:just, you can't extrapolate how
people have behaved in the past.
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:Yeah.
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:He tends to have this,
this power over people.
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:So I think it'll be interesting to
watch his first press conference.
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:I'm gonna go out on a limb here
and say it's not gonna go well.
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:It's not gonna go well.
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:'cause the reporters are armed to the
teeth and he's not used to that forum yet.
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:Yeah.
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:He'll get he'll, he'll,
he'll get into the job.
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:But he's only one person.
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:And I, I, that's what I want to come
back to is that so much is made of the
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:Fed chairperson because we've kind of
made them these mythical creatures,
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:you know, starting a Greenspan,
who's called the Maestro, right?
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:Uh, everyone subsequent to Volker
has been in this kind of world of.
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:Really getting the, the consensus, right.
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:He's a, the, the chairperson is
a consensus builder, and what
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:you have inside the Fed today
is a lot of divisive opinion.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:I would say there's probably
more hawkish behavior than
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:there's more dovish behavior.
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:You know, you have your Miron on
one side and you know you're gonna
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:have GULs be on the other side.
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:You're always gonna
have this kind of pool.
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:But the thing is, is that.
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:Even warsh himself can't
flip the vote right now.
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:And so to me, that's what I
think the market's gonna watch.
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:And I think with this
announcement, you see it out there.
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:The markets have been well-behaved.
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:It's not a bad pick, it's just
we don't know what it'll be.
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:And remember we got him for a long time
now Once, once he gets confirmed, right?
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:Yeah.
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:And so this isn't just a Trump thing, it's
the next administration, the next as well.
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:So I, I think it's a good pick.
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:I just don't know what to,
what to make of it, because.
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:Of the uncertainty around, I know
know the one criterion for the job
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:was you have to lower interest rates.
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:Yeah.
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:But it flies right in the face
of unwinding the balance sheet.
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:Right.
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:But you could also argue that maybe
you do both and then we have a
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:neutralist policy because of it.
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:But then why are you doing it?
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:You know?
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:I don't know.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:So, um, I, I, my, my, my, my
verdict is, is yet to be rendered.
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:And I'll watch him, uh, on the job.
