Keep Powell in Top Fed Job, Former Vice Chair Blinder Says

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President Joe Biden would be well advised to offer Jerome Powell a second term as chair of the Federal Reserve to preserve policy stability as the U.S. economy recovers from the pandemic, said former Fed Vice Chair Alan Blinder.

“Jay Powell, I think, has done a really outstanding job at the Fed and if President Biden was asking me -- which he isn't -- I would advise to keep Jay Powell in place,” he said Wednesday during an interview on Bloomberg Television's Balance of Power with David Westin. “Not so much as a reward for good behavior, although you could say that he deserves a reward, but just for the stability that it represents.”

Powell, whose term expires in February, has so far deflected questions in public on whether he'd stay in the job if asked, while leaving the impression intact that he would welcome another four years at the Fed's helm.

“It's not the case, at least in my view, that the Fed's been going astray and needs its leadership changed,” said Blinder, who's a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University.

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