Political Elites Are Much Too Keen on Their Own ‘Independence’
What on Earth does it mean to be “highly independent”? This curious phrase was alighted upon by the BBC’s economics editor this week in an article attempting to explain the significance of Donald Trump’s attacks on the Chair of the US Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. “In recent months,” wrote Faisal Islam, “President Trump has attempted to criticise, interfere [with] and influence the highly independent setting of interest rates by Powell, through criticism and the appointment of his own favourite economists. The aim appears to be to try to massage down US interest rates.” Powell, in a highly unusual move, this week hit out at Trump’s manoeuvres in a tremulous online video.
Powell’s words prompted an even more bizarre and unasked for intervention from the guardians of interest rates worldwide. The European Central Bank, as well as representatives of other central banks including the Bank of England’s Andrew Bailey, penned a joint letter announcing that they “stand in full solidarity with the Federal Reserve System and its Chair Jerome H. Powell” following Trump’s actions. Don’t curb the power of bankers, say bankers. In an attempt to spin the gesture as being about anything other than their own power and prestige, they added unconvincingly: “The independence of central banks is in the interest of the people we serve.”
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https://spectator.com/podcast/does-farage-really-want-to-be-prime-minister/ The Blairite elite has been rumbled. ‘‘If you are brilliant at running a hospital, if you were brilliant working in the armed forces, if you’ve built a wonderful business… we need you to come in and replace the duds who’ve driven us into the sand.’ ‘Reform is conscious that much of what they want to do – leaving the European Convention on Human Rights, mass detention and deportation of illegal migrants… restore the primacy of parliament over the Blairite legalistic state, where international law, a politicised judiciary and unelected quangocrats hold sway….. ‘If you try to block us, we will use the power of democracy to blow you away if we have to’ ‘Packing the Lords is absolutely on the table as an option.’ slim down cabinet and hand half the jobs to outside experts appointed to the Lords. …a ‘great repeal bill’ to withdraw from international treaties, override the human rights act and the equalities act. But less dramatic changes will be just as important. Reform will also rewrite both the civil service and ministerial codes and amend the 2010 Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 (known as CRAG in Whitehall) to make it easier to appoint outside… Read more »
“Don’t curb the power of bankers, say bankers.”
Brilliant.
See also: “Well, he would, wouldn’t he?” (Mancy Rice-Davies).
Mancy?
Oh dear! Mandy!
Well it’s news to me that Kneel is an expert in anything except grift. He was an appalling DPP who managed to “not see” The Jimmy Saville case cross his desk, did nothing about the paki rape gangs which was already widely known about and generally just polished a chair.
Carnage has always been just that and spent his time at the B of E manoeuvring behind the scenes to keep us in the EU ; when he wasn’t polishing a chair.
Powell I no nothing about but the US Federal Bank is a private company so acts in the interests of its owners and certainly not the United States.
“Independent experts?” Well if Independence can be bought I suppose they are.
Nothing would suit the western rulers more than to depoliticise the public in the way it has been done in Russia. China did it differently in my view.
Once achieved the nomenklatura chose their successors, conceal their failures and deliver 1984 style assurances about the success of their rule.
The only meaningful resistance forces are DJT and his team in the US and do-called populists in Europe. Only Farage among the latter seems likely to have the power to make changes but will it be in time.
The growth of the Quangocracy (International and National) is just proving to the electorate that “it doesn’t matter who you vote for” and “if voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”
Two-Tier is demonstrating the latter by cancelling local elections where the sitting Establishment Party is going to be obliterated by Reform.
Fortunately, a very large proportion of the electorate has woken up to the Quangocracy SCAM and, in Reform UK, sees a potential remedy and opportunity to restore something approaching democracy.
And that’s why Two-Tier recently said that he is fairly “relaxed” about a future CONservative Government but terrified by the thought of a Reform one. He knows that the CONs won’t dismantle the National Quangos or leave the International ones. He is very fearful that a Reform one will.
We know what happened to other Presidents who messed with the International Private Banks. This creating of money out of nothing and lending it to governments. ——Think LIncoln, Kennedy.
Great article Laurie. You only have to see that ‘working class Labour’s’ Starmer is a member of the Trilateral Commission – Jeffery Epstein’s favourite club of New York’s hyper-rich – to see what’s going on here.
This is a grasping political cult who have been trying to hive themselves off as above the frightfully stinky business of ‘little people’s’ politics for years and framing themselves as the anointed saviours of society. Whilst simultaneously funnelling us down into a tightly controlled globalist mono-regime led by their ‘experts’ and looting us till we bleed. This is why they admire China so much and never criticise Islam.
“Independent” means “not accountable to the electorate”.
We can’t get rid of them.
Central *_ankers of the World unite!
*Your letter of choice here.
Independent? When Governments want interest rates lowered to increase foolish borrowing to boost economic activity and tax receipts, causing misallocation of resources and ramping up private debt, the “independent” central banks independently arrive at the conclusion that interest rates must be lowered.
Then when the “Boom” thereby created by the Government desperate to avoid the inevitable “Bust”, the independent central banks independently receive via the ether a desire to increase rates to “cool” the economy.
Since the Bank of England has a target set by Government to hold the inflation rate within 2% – how is that independent?
Hands up all those who think the ECB does anything other than what the German Government wants – the €uro being the DMark by another name.
If you want to see TDS in action just read Alex Brummer in the Mail – a 75 yr old past his prime – heaping criticism on Trump for his attitude to Powell and his justifiable critiscism for the contrast in his actions under Dementia Joe and those under Donald with regard to interest rates. This befuddled man knows nothing of the back story of Powell pouring $billions of taxpayers money into a US Treasury refurd that justfies Donald taking him to task. Note that Powell’s keeping interest rates high costs the US people money in debt interest payments. And when it comes to bias, take a step forward the incompetent Bailey who refused a necessary interest cut here in June last year in case it helped the hapless Sushi in the election and yet he claims independence. Remember this stupid man could not see the obvious post covid inflation blip coming.
I query the linguistic point about ‘very’ and ‘most’ when used with ‘Reverend’, which are used as intensifiers rather than quantifiers – as in “You’re most welcome”, which doesn’t mean ‘You are the most welcome’ so much as ‘very welcome’, simply. A quibble in an otherwise excellent article.
Way off beam. The Fed is a public institution set up by Congress with a mandate from Congress – basically to set interest rates to maintain full employment and stable prices. It was set up this way, with this mandate, specifically with the aim of being apolitical and “independent” of the whims and political imperatives of the Government of the day. Rulers being in charge of monetary systems typically not ending well. To criticise it for being “independent” is akin to criticising the Justice System (or the BBC!) for actually being independent.
The BBC as the medical profession and the Church of England should be politically impartial. What happened?
“What on Earth does it mean to be “highly independent”? This curious phrase was alighted upon by the BBC’s economics editor this week …”
Independent of Reality, the indigenous population, the licence payers?
A curious phrase indeed: perhaps even controversial.