“Well, of course he has a term but I would like to see a new leader into the Fed,” Hutchinson, a former Arkansas governor, told Bloomberg Radio Tuesday.
Hutchinson is part of a growing chorus of Republican presidential hopefuls who have expressed a lack of confidence in the Fed’s stewardship of the economy under Powell. But his comments went further than his 2024 rivals, who have said only that they would replace the chairman after his term ends in May of 2026.
The US economy has proved surprisingly resilient, despite the Fed’s rapid rate-hiking campaign, boosting optimism that the US central bank can tame inflation without severe economic damage. The Fed is expected to hold rates steady at its policy meeting next week amid signs that job gains and inflation are gradually cooling.
“I think that inflation should be the controlling factor for them. The unemployment, that’s what the president of the United States should worry about, that’s what Congress worries about,” Hutchinson said. “Control inflation, watch the monetary supply that’s out there and that should be the focus.”