Another fucking stupid shit...

Kudlow: Herman Cain among candidates for Fed board

By VICTORIA GUIDA

Former Republican presidential contender Herman Cain is one of the candidates under consideration to fill an open seat on the Federal Reserve board, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow confirmed on Thursday.

Kudlow told White House reporters that there is a “fairly large list” of candidates and said the administration is in no rush to make a decision. But consideration of Cain, a former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, for one of two slots on the seven-member Fed board comes as a surprise, among other reasons, because he has spoken in the past of the need to raise interest rates.

Cain, who spent a few years on the board of the Kansas City Fed, including as chairman, in 2011 has also said he supports a strong dollar and praised then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) for his “steady pressure” to rein in the Fed's powers. Paul is famously critical of the existence of the central bank.

But his past comments on interest rates could hurt him the most with President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed a desire for low rates to spur economic growth. Cain, who unsuccessfully ran for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, repeatedly cited rising rates as a welcome development. And the Kansas City Fed, during his tenure, was also notably “hawkish,” or in favor of higher interest rates to stave off inflation.

There are two open seats on the Fed’s board. Kudlow said the White House is considering re-nominating Carnegie Mellon Professor Marvin Goodfriend for one of those seats. Trump tapped Goodfriend for the central bank’s board last year, but his nomination expired in the new Congress and he has not been resubmitted.

Goodfriend's past writings also indicate that he would be inclined to be more aggressive in raising rates, making him another odd fit for Trump.

“They are on the list, but I might add: It is a fairly large list,” Kudlow said of Cain and Goodfriend.

Another Trump nominee for the board, Fed veteran Nellie Liang, withdrew from consideration earlier this month.

A senior administration official said filling the open seats is not a top priority.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, himself a Trump appointee, angered the president in December for raising interest rates again, despite Trump's public calls on the central bank to hold off. That led to reports that the president was considering firing Powell.

But that dispute has died down in recent weeks as the Fed has increasingly signaled uncertainty about the economic outlook. The central bank on Wednesday left interest rates unchanged and signaled it was ready to pause in its campaign of steadily hiking rates, sending stocks surging.

That prompted Trump to tweet: "Dow just broke 25,000. Tremendous news!"