If Republican frontrunner Donald Trump secures a victory in November’s election and is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017 as this country’s next president, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen may shortly find herself out of a job.
That’s because Trump, who secured a resounding victory Wednesday in the New York presidential primary, told Fortune this week that he believes Yellen has done a “serviceable” job as the Fed Chair, but said that he would be “more inclined to put other people in” as Fed Chair, as opposed to reappointing Yellen.
Trump told Fortune that he feels that the Fed’s policy of keeping interest rates low is a smart one, but says there are other things the Fed can be doing in addition to keeping rates low to help the country's economy.
From Fortune:
“The best thing we have going for us is that interest rates are so low,” says Trump, comparing the U.S. to a homeowner refinancing their mortgage. “There are lots of good things that could be done that aren’t being done, amazingly.”
In fact, if the Fed were to raise interest rates now it could be disastrous, Trump says, because the country would be forced to pay higher interest rates on our debt, and that would be very “scary” for the economy.
This isn’t the first time that Trump has spoken out about the Fed and Yellen.
Last year, Trump shared his feelings about the Fed, Yellen, and interest rates, accusing Yellen of conspiring President Barack Obama to keep interest rates low for political reasons.
According to a separate report from Fortune, citing a Reuters report, Trump said that Obama asked the Fed not to raise rates because of the “bad things” that would happen if rates rise.
From the November 2015 Fortune report:
“They are not raising [rates] because Obama has asked them not to raise them,” Trump said at the press conference. “He wants to get out of office, because we’re in a bubble, and when those rates are raised, a lot of bad things are going to happen.”
“Janet Yellen is highly political and she’s not raising rates for a very specific reason: Because Obama told her not to because he wants to be out playing golf in a year from now and he wants to be doing other things and he doesn’t want to see a big bubble burst during his administration,” the Republican Presidential contender added.
And if Trump wins in November 2016, the “highly political” Yellen’s tenure at the Fed will come to an abrupt end.
