On 11/14/2022, Senator Kennedy questioned FDIC’s Gruenberg, Fed’s Barr in Banking. Kennedy asked, “Let me ask you your opinion would any single one of you hire Sam Bankman-Fried to manage a food truck? Would any single one of you hire his girlfriend Caroline Ellison apparently was trading billions of dollars to manage a food truck? Can you tell me who in our federal financial services regulatory administrative state was watching FTX to make sure that no one there stole people’s money? Was anyone watching them that you know of?”
Barr: senator just from you’re dealing with things.
Kennedy: You’re a brave man I understand oh you’re dealing here with banking and credit union regulators and FTX was not engaged in the banking business or in credit union business no I’m not saying you should be. I’m just asking, you guys are at the top of the food chain in terms of financial services regulation do you know who was watching? I think who’s watching these chuckle heads well these folks I think were engaging um generally in uh in investment in trading activity and so in the first instance if you’re thinking about me like some of them were engaged in stealing well that’s under investigation now
Barr: senator so I think in the first instance you’d probably want to engage with the market regulators the SEC and the CFTC to talk about the activities and the authorities in this area.
Kennedy: all right I don’t have a lot of time I want to ask the chairman a few questions about inflation. Mr. chairman, professor Jason Furman I think you know him at Harvard formerly of president Obama’s administration has said that he thinks unemployment has to rise by five percentage points for a whole year to bring inflation down a single percent do you agree with that?
Barr: thank you senator let me just start by saying in inflation right now is far too high a week.
Kennedy: but I’m going to run out of time doggone it that’s just in our chairman he’s fair but he’s tough as a as a boot and he’s going to cut me off. Do you agree with professor Furman?
Barr: I think that it’s the case that we’re going to see significant softening in the economy I don’t have a projection that precise as as Jason Furman.
Kennedy: let me ask you about professor Larry Summers. he says that unemployment is going to have to rise to 7.5 percent and stay there for two years to get inflation down to two percent do you agree with that?
Barr: as I said I think that we’re going to see softening in the economy but I don’t have a prediction as precise as that one
Kennedy: all right, can we agree you remember the inflation back in the in the 1980s under president Reagan & president Carter and when Mr. Volcker was chairman can we agree that the only way we got control of inflation then was on both the fiscal and the monetary side?
Barr: well at the end of the day it’s the responsibility of the Fed to assure price stability consistent with maxim employment so we’re focused on on our our responsibility.
Kennedy: I know that but you can’t if you depend on monetary policy alone interest rates have to go higher. Put another way if congress cooperated and stopped spending money like it was ditch water, or the Fed wouldn’t have to raise rates as high. Is that a fair statement to get control of inflation?
Barr: of course I really won’t have any comment on fiscal policy we take the you think fiscal competencies are relevant we take the fiscal policy that elected members of congress and the president enact and we calculate those in our decision making but I don’t have a comment on fiscal policy you don’t have any comment on the contribution that fiscal policy makes to inflation I really don’t have anything to add about that.
Kennedy: well add to what? you haven’t told me add to what I said but you’re not telling me that fiscal policy has nothing to do with inflation?
Barr: I’m telling you that at the Fed. we take our monetary policy responsibilities as ours and we leave to the election.
Kennedy: well don’t you think you have a moral obligation if not a legal obligation if you think fiscal policy is contributing to the inflation to say something for God’s sakes.
Barr: I think it’s important for us to respect the role of the congress and the president in setting fiscal policy and then to take that as a given.
Kennedy: can you tell me given the path we’re on how high unemployment is going to go in order to get inflation down?
Barr: I think we’re going to see unemployment go up but I don’t have a precise.
Kennedy: duh I think you’re right I don’t mean to make life of you can you give me any prediction how high I mean summers is and infirming or saying it’s going to have to go through the roof?
https://facebook.com/HygoNewsUSA/videos/570892645046492/
Hire FTX Sam Bankman-Fried & girlfriend Caroline Ellison? Kennedy: well add to what? you haven’t told me