Lawrence Lindsey: Fed’s Powell Delivered ‘Most Counterproductive Press Conference’ in Memory

Former Federal Reserve governor and chief executive officer at The Lindsey Group Lawrence Lindsey said Monday on CNBC’s “The Exchange” that Fed Chair Jerome Powell had the “most counterproductive press conference” while announcing the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point.

Lindsey said, “The Fed chair, and I mean this as nicely as I can say it, had the most counterproductive press conference I can ever remember last Wednesday.”

He continued, “Now, his words were OK, and, in fact, I called my clients and read all of the analysis, and they said it was his demeanor. Equities went up before he started speaking as soon as he walked in the door.”

Lindsey added, “I think what he’s got to do tomorrow — because I’m sure he didn’t mean for that reaction to occur — he’s got to recalibrate, he’s got to recant. He’s got to say, ‘look folks, we have to have higher real interest rates, and it’s as simple as that, and the Fed is going to keep doing it.”

He concluded, “I can understand why the market is exuberant. Look, we’ve had a Fed put in place now for two decades. We have had the biggest monetary and fiscal policy party in the history of mankind. I know, you know, that sounds grandiose, but it’s actually true quantitatively. Why should we expect the biggest party in history to end with a single year of bad inflation.”

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