Trump Almost Has a Point About the Federal Reserve
Aaron Klein argues that while preserving [[Federal Reserve]] independence over interest-rate setting is important, the central bank has overreached by using its autonomy to serve banks and markets rather than ordinary people. Klein documents failures — from ignoring the mandate of the [[Home Ownership Equity Protection Act]] and letting toxic mortgages proliferate, to slow [[ACH transfers]] that produce overdraft fees benefiting institutions like [[Arvest Bank]], to the 2008 rescue of [[Bear Stearns]] via [[JPMorgan]]’s purchase and pandemic-era programs that largely aided Wall Street rather than small businesses through the [[Main Street Business Lending Program]]. He urges Democrats to defend monetary-policy independence while stripping the Fed of regulatory, payments, and bailout powers and moving those functions under democratic control, citing the [[Dodd-Frank Act]]’s unrealized reforms as precedent.