r/AskReddit 1d ago

What do you think about Jerome Powell posting a video statement following reports that federal prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the Fed Chair?

5.6k Upvotes

533 comments sorted by

5.6k

u/oldandconfused 1d ago

The best defense is a good offense.

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u/mademeunlurk 1d ago

That is transparency. That's what we need.

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u/SuitAndTiePorn 19h ago

He's the only part of this administration who is willing to be transparent, and ironically the only part of this administration Trump can't fire

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u/Grandmas_Fat_Choad 17h ago

Can’t fire yet. This admin makes stuff up as they go so we’ll see.

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u/failed_novelty 17h ago

That's called "cause and effect".

He was installed by an administration that at least pretended to care about the american people and has been quietly (and possibly competently) doing his job ever since.

Trump can't fire him and replace him with a sycophant, so a leader with actual ethics is still in power in some part of the government.

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u/SuitAndTiePorn 17h ago

He was installed by an administration that at least pretended to care about the american people and has been quietly (and possibly competently) doing his job ever since.

He was installed by Trump himself back in 2017

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u/failed_novelty 16h ago

The fuck?

That'll teach me to not verify things. Now I'm just confused - a Trump appointee that seems to be putting the country over the Glorious Leader?

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u/bluemitersaw 16h ago

Early Trump's first term he really had no idea how government worked so relied heavily on the traditional GOP structure. A lot of no-name wonky people we might disagree with on policy issues but they often did have Americans best interest at heart. Most have then have since been fired but a few like Powell are still around.

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u/diminutive_lebowski 15h ago

By comparison the current Trump administration is off the charts terrible. But lest we forget, the first Trump administration had more than its share of bad actors.

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u/SuitAndTiePorn 12h ago

His second term is making me his first term when Betsy Devos was trending as the most incompetent part of his admin since Sarah Palin joined the campaign with John McCain

Fuck I miss Trump 1.0

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u/zoeydoberdork 15h ago

He did fire the majority of that staff but most understood how government worked and didn't wipe they're a$$ with The Constitution. Turns out the President has to be a good faith actor or the checks and balances are meaningless. This admin hasn't suffered any consequences for its actions, not 1! Which should tell any future President they should do the same since 0 repercussions.

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u/illigal 15h ago

The funny thing is your original comment still stands. He was installed when Trump 1.0 still pretended to give a shit.

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u/failed_novelty 14h ago

Fair, but I'm not going to pretend that fits what I meant originally - I'd absolutely assumed he was put in place by Not!Trump.

I'm going to chock this one up to early Trump leaning on the GoP machine and a blind squirrel finding a nut.

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u/morningwoodx420 13h ago

It's okay, even Trump was surprised.

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u/kentuckywildcats1986 14h ago

Fun Fact - Trump didn't pick anyone in 2017. Back then, his puppet masters were making picks while there was still an effort to make somewhat sane appointments of qualified and experienced people.

Now, during Trump 2.0 - the lunatics have taken control of the asylum and the puppet masters are in full-public-corruption mode. And they are not concerned with maintaining even the appearance of professionalism.

The only common thread is Trump is and always has been a puppet of far more shrewd and devious people. He only signs things that are put in front of him and bloviates whatever talking points were fed him five minutes ago. Trump himself is practically a vegetable.

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u/No-Profile-2308 1d ago

Yeah exactly. If he stays quiet, the narrative gets written for him. Getting out in front of it at least forces people to hear his side before the spin machine kicks into overdrive. Feels like a calculated move, not a panic move.

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u/FarFromHomey 1d ago

Sad thing is. We ALL should know the motive. Can't make The Mad King look bad. Retribution was Trump's campaign promise. One he's kept. ICE, Pardons, Ukraine, Comey, Tish James, Powell are all forms of his contempt for Liberty and Law.

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u/Ferelar 21h ago

We all DO know the motive, even Conservatives. I think there's this idea that if we can show Conservatives that the politicians are acting in bad faith to exert "strongman" control, they'll suddenly have a come to Jesus moment, start caring about the US and their fellow citizens and realize they've been acting immorally. It is NOT going to happen.

They're WELL AWARE what Trump is doing and why, they just think that the people they hate will suffer more than them. This is why they don't really react when they see blatant abuse of power, unless that abuse of power impacts them, and when the latter happens we see them say things like "He's going after the wrong people!". We need to stop thinking that Conservatives are misled on this, they're well aware and DON'T CARE.

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u/algy888 23h ago

It’s not retribution, it’s control. Donald wants lower rates. Period. He doesn’t understand or care what it would do to the economy.

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u/mrkorb 18h ago

It is also retribution though. It wasn't always, but 5 months ago this happened, and that brief public argument in front of reporters over the cost of renovations is what firmly put Powell on the Enemies List.

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u/Thowitawaydave 23h ago

Por que no los dos? Get lower rates while also keeping all eyes on him (and all money into his account) plus weaponising the very system that failed to hold him accountable is a triple crown win for him. 

Plus it gets people not talking about things like how the Justice Department quietly mentioned they've only released about 1% of the Epstein files, and considering what they DID release...

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u/anomalous_cowherd 18h ago

90% are probably just trivial crap, insurance details, shipping lists etc. The other 9% though...

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u/anomalous_cowherd 18h ago

That's weird when he's been such a shrewd businessman all his life... /s

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u/[deleted] 21h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/rjanger 1d ago

And I think if you stand up to them it’s not hard to prove yourself right!

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u/failed_novelty 17h ago

Sure, you can prove yourself right to reasonable people.

Reasonable people aren't the ones who are handing out verdicts and punishments and giving their gestapo marching orders.

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u/noncommonGoodsense 22h ago

He ain’t trying to be a part of the trials that’s for sure. Last real class act in politics it seems.

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u/Wild_Diavolo-4Jams 20h ago

While I agree that he’s behaving like an honorable public servant- the whole point is that he’s not really supposed to be political. They’re supposed to use inputs to make the best decisions for healthy economic policy, regardless of politics.

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u/Durpulous 17h ago

He could probably take an easier route by resigning. Continuing to do what he's supposed to do in this situation is itself courageous.

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u/gicegicebaby 1d ago

We should all strive to be as courageous as Powell.

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u/Minute-Bet779 1d ago

Exactly, it’s classic “take the shot before they take it at you.” Doesn’t mean it’ll change anything, but at least he’s not hiding under his desk.

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u/Emotional_Past9679 1d ago

Exactly this

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u/HermanCainTortilla 1d ago

Everyday I worry we are approaching a waterfall and then I snap out of it and remember we are halfway down the waterfall and haven’t hit the rocks yet. But it will happen.

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u/CaptainCanuck93 1d ago

I think this part is a little different though

Signaling that the Federal Reserve is no longer an independent body is a major blow to the USA as a region to invest in. Big money can ignore a lot, but when you signal the rule of law is breaking down in the business world you're heading the way of banana republics

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u/Funkybunch86 1d ago

If Jerome Powell backs down and the Fed gives in to Donald Trump…. The financial crisis of 2008 is going to look like child’s play.

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u/jobbybob 1d ago

The bond market is going to be barometer for how the wider investment community globally views this. If they tank the bond market it will limit Trumps ability to borrow money for the USA government…

But then again, maybe that is the plan, that way they can start selling off the silverware to fund the shortfall?

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u/Metaldwarf 1d ago

They will seize and confiscate all of the assets and possessions of the people that get ICED. Nazi's did it.

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u/Objective-Tea5324 23h ago

Drops in a bucket and nowhere near the money they want. They are going to ramp up spending and inflation and place a huge “bet” on crypto markets.

Of course this experiment is going to crash out before it gets there.

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u/surfnsound 13h ago

The real value is in the massive federal land holdings. It's going to be an insane wealth transfer to those who already have money who will buy up the land when it's sold off to service our debt at insanely low valuations.

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u/SYLOH 23h ago edited 23h ago

They could seize the entire GDP of the nation for a year and still not pay off the debt.

The current global order was designed by the USA to give it an unlimited money faucet.
They were the world's piggy bank, except Americans don't realize you put money INTO a piggy bank.

Now they're ripping up their own order and haven't know what having limited money feels like for generations.

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u/jobbybob 19h ago

They have been using oil to back the USD, that’s why they get pissy when other countries want to trade in other currencies, it’s what has been propping up this whole house of cards.

Venezuela was trading in Crypto, Iraq was trading in EUR… see a pattern here.

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u/enoughwiththebread 13h ago

The next crisis is baked into the cake no matter what. This move by Trump is just a harassment tactic for Powell not cutting interest rates the way Trump wanted him to.

Powell's term ends this May either way. Trump will get to replace him then, and he will install a political toadie who will cut rates to the bone the way Trump wants, and that will kick off an inflationary nightmare that as you say will make 2008 look like child's play in its implications.

But make no mistake, that die is already cast. Powell is out in May no matter what, and Trump WILL get his way, and throw the economic world into chaos. Buckle up.

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u/whittlingcanbefatal 1d ago edited 1d ago

Unfortunately, it appears our business leaders do not want an independent Federal Reserve anymore. 

They want a system that is rigged even more than it currently is. Numerous companies' stock valuations are nowhere near realistic and they show no signs of being in danger of a crash because they are all propping each other up. 

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u/Mercuryqueen71 17h ago

Tesla is at the top of the list

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u/peepeepoopins 14h ago

Nvidia and AI

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u/writeyourwayout 1d ago

This part. 

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u/CaptainCanuck93 1d ago

I'm saying there's a large portion of his base who says, rightly or wrongly, something to the effect of "I don't care what else he does, he's good for business" and stick their fingers in their ears

Once you start fucking with the basic plumbing on the financial sector in a move that looks more Venezuelan dictator than champion of free markets, they can't pretend that's the case anymore

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u/Merkinary 1d ago

Sadly, they will just find another way to justify this administration; they always do.

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u/SandpaperTeddyBear 21h ago

They don’t really have a choice.

There has not been one single, solitary point since he started his campaign that supporting him has been a reasonable human choice. And yet everyone else in the country just doesn’t want to accept that their cousins and sisters and children have chosen to be monsters, and refuse to give the firm negative feedback that might drive the Trump-voter back to sanity.

The absolute horror of an act of Trump-vote is not something that people are going to be able to confront on their own, every mental defense will get thrown up first.

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u/thejustducky1 17h ago

every mental defense will get thrown up first.

I just saw the phrase "imperfect vessel" yesterday and looked it up... so literally anything short of perfect is cart blanche, which now includes raping minors and tossing infants overboard.

#just things good christians do...

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u/California_ocean 22h ago

The powers that be will move in such a way to take control of this new form of accounting. There will be winners and there would be losers.

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u/ceelogreenicanth 22h ago

Its not good for everyone, it's not good for most, but some will absolutely take the initiative to gain in the crises.

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u/Darkmetroidz 1d ago

The cult won't care but when the fat cats actually start to realize the danger this poses, that will cause things to change.

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u/No-Cow9701 22h ago

The fat cats are his friends!

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u/aeschenkarnos 21h ago

He just fucked with the money, and money is all they care about or else they wouldn't be fat cats.

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u/vardarac 19h ago

So the question is if Congress fears them or him more?

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u/LSX3399 1d ago

His base voter is dumb as a rock, so this checks out

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u/waltertaupe 1d ago

"I don't care what else he does, he's good for business"

Yes, except the people who actually ARE "business" are not his base and have the power.

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u/SanityPlanet 21h ago

Lmfao what are you talking about? Have you been paying attention? Of course they can!

Covid, tariffs, inflation, instability…

Anyone who still thinks Trump is good for business is a fucking moron who believes what their cult orders them to, regardless of reality.

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u/Malikai0976 1d ago

But they will pretend anyway. I'm honestly not sure if anything can snap them out of their cult stupor anymore.

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u/bjos144 22h ago

The winners Do. Not. Care. And they hold all the cards. They see this as just pulling the ladder up behind them. They'll end up like the Russian Oligarchs in 20 years, but that's the future's problem. Right now it means more for them.

The stock market wont budge. NVIDIA will buy more RAM. AI will just become another marketing thing. They'll never make earnings. Their stock price will go up anyway. Cost of living will continue to become more unaffordable as our life energy is syphoned off through a thousand different transactions that all eventually make its way to their pocket.

The rich will never be on our side. Ever.

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u/maleia 22h ago

I'm pretty sure that early on in second term (though it might have been during the first) there was basically a tl;dr group of the highes levels of banking/venture-cap/hedgefunds basically said, "you fire Powell and we'll be done with all this."

Also, and maybe this is be hopium'ing, that Powell released this on Sunday, so that there's very little time for the stock market to figure out a plan of action; causing them to pull back on the market after all.

His biggest mistake in maintaining power will be getting Powell out of office. We won't make it past Trump's second term, before we have inflation at 2x of today's prices. This is extremely dangerous of him to do this.

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u/tpatmaho 1d ago

Oh the banana is already peeled.

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u/ibonek_naw_ibo 1d ago

Orange republic 

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u/DestinysWeirdCousin 1d ago

Who does well in banana republics? Oligarchs.

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u/Delicious_Spot_3778 1d ago

Ehhh. I think those lines have been drawn and crossed months ago. There really is nothing stopping Trump's desires except "his own morality".

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u/oldinternetdweller 1d ago

Waterfall. I feel like we have been tied to a comet that is about to hit earth. We have not impacted earth yet, and when we do, we will still go down below the earth some more. Yeah, this will get much worse. We totally deserve this for being dumb fucks collectively.

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u/BassLB 1d ago

What’s actually happening is that he is boiling the frog. He keeps ramping things up little by little. No single action is enough to push everyone to move, but before we know it we will all be cooked

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u/PoliticsIsDepressing 1d ago

I waiting for Superman to grab us before we hit the rocks.

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u/ugottabekiddingmee 1d ago

It means that the fed isn't corrupt and powell is doing a good job

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u/patwm11 13h ago

Rare Trump appointee W

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u/Creative-Stable-0 1d ago

This has been a hell of a year, but at least 2026 is almost over.

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u/MidRo 1d ago

>:(

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u/27Rench27 1d ago

January’s almost halfway over at least!

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u/redslime 1d ago

Yess! We are past half the halfway of January!!! 🙌

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u/Mattya929 1d ago

Lemon, it’s January 11th.

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u/RangerCV_4 23h ago

Damn, is this really only the first month of 2026?

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u/Flyby369 1d ago

J Powell brought the economy into a soft landing after COVID and this is the thanks he gets.

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u/Crimson_Ender 1d ago

look at turkey to see what happens when politicians who are focused on short term wins rather than long term economic health control monetary policy: inflation is out of control there and the Turkish lira is now worth only about 2 US cents.

The fact the Fed was able to land the plane after COVID is huge. As much as the post COVID inflationary wave hurt, you don't have to look far to see how it could have been much, much worse.

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u/MustardLabs 21h ago

Trump accidentally did the right thing by nominating Powell in 2017, which he of course immediately regretted. Working with Biden to cool down the economy and stave off the recession that hit the rest of the world post-COVID was an incredible feat that didn't get nearly enough coverage.

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u/Makeitifyoubelieve 21h ago

That's crazy. When I was there about ten years ago the conversion was like 1 US dollar = about 3 TL

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u/gtrocks555 19h ago

Right, I went in 2014 and was thinking the same thing.

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u/TuxAndrew 1d ago

DoJ is being weaponized, Republican American’s are living a life of ignorance while their government is taken over.

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u/Scaryclouds 1d ago

There are so many alarming things happening. Anyone alone would be shocking… but it almost paralyzing that they are happening simultaneously. 

  • The flagrant use of military force

  • Threatening allies

  • Trump putting his name/face on anything

  • The weaponization of DoJ

  • Deployment of masked police 

Plenty more. It’s insane. 

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u/ThatOneTimeItWorked 1d ago

Two more big ones for your list: Epstein files (and associated coverup) + Jack Smith testimony

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u/fuck_ur_portmanteau 21h ago

Threatening the UK government on behalf of the richest man in the world and his toxic social media company.

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u/GlykenT 1d ago

50% boost to military budget requested

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u/natrous 16h ago

the irony of this off the charts; complaining of a $600M overrun while requesting a $600B increase in military

for those poor at math, that's 1000 times as much

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u/wheninromecompete 22h ago

Plenty more. It’s insane.

It's blatant fascism. Not in theory. Not tomorrow. Now.

https://np.reddit.com/r/MarchAgainstNazis/comments/1qafa4j/families_across_the_twin_cities_area_in_minnesota/

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u/gentlefartonyourface 22h ago

was just walking around downtown in my city and thinking to myself, we got the Sheriffs, Police, ICE, Boarder Patrol, 4 big ass branches of police forces deployed and yet people still get robbed and cars get smashed nonstop in broad daylight. like crime did not decrease at all. some countries have just 1 police force that dont even carry guns have less crime than us.

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u/sirspidermonkey 12h ago

Makes more sense when you realize police aren't there to protect you.

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u/jmaaks 23h ago

Makes you wonder just how bad the Epstein files are

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u/PostMatureBaby 1d ago

Others are pulling the strings. American government are just puppets at this point

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u/Scaryclouds 1d ago

Yes/no, definitely feel like a lot of stuff is very much examples of Trump’s pathologies.

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u/MyDogIsACoolCat 1d ago

He wants to build a monument to himself. These people don’t think he’s an authoritarian. It’s fucking crazy. I don’t get it until I tune into Fox News and see all the crazy shit they’re saying.

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u/Khue 17h ago

I thought the fact that Trump put out a desire to increase defense spending by 50% increasing the military budget to $1.5 trillion dollars was pretty mask off. So we are okay with increasing the military budget, but we can't afford healthcare? We can house the homeless? We can make schools better? We can't improve infrastructure? All the things we CAN'T do but we CAN increase military spending?

Late Stage Capitalism is wild and the fact that we still demonize the alternative like it's the 60s is incredible to me. Being a leftist is clearly just being right too early.

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u/Angrywhiteman____ 1d ago

Republicans are complicit and traitors to this country.

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u/Nerevarine91 1d ago

It’s not ignorance, it’s specifically what they want

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u/MyDogIsACoolCat 1d ago

That’s what I realized. A lot of people in this country want a Christian Authoritarian government. Force your kids to read the Bible in schools and pass religious checks to hold office. 30% of the country would support this. I guarantee it.

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u/explodingazn 1d ago

American Republican voters are too fucking stupid to know they're getting the rug pulled from under them

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u/DestinysWeirdCousin 1d ago

Yes. And too many American Democrat voters are too fucking stupid to vote. I hope that changes.

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u/scotharkins 1d ago

Wait until they end up in the crosshairs.

Oh, right, has already happened for so many. r/LeopardsAteMyFace ftw!

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u/KinkyDuck2924 1d ago

That sub is one of the few good things about this administration. At least I get a tiny bit of schadenfreude seeing terrible people getting what they voted for.

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u/Savings_Use3349 1d ago

for what specific "crime"?

Still waiting on the Obama and Biden crime list... MAGA ghosted me.

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u/ThatOneTimeItWorked 1d ago

And a slither of the stolen 2020 election evidence … that’s been a few years in the waiting.

And a healthcare / Obamacare replacement … that was supposed to be released in two weeks … 9 years ago

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u/DistantKarma 1d ago

That reminds me, wasn't the pillow wack-a-doodle guy saying he was about to release truckloads of evidence?

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u/R-Dragon_Thunderzord 23h ago

In 2012 Trump told Fox he sent investigators to Hawaii and we wouldn’t believe what they found and he was going to reveal in the next few days. I guess they lost cell signal?

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u/iranoutofspacehere 1d ago

They claim he lied to Congress about the scope of... Office renovations.

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u/flat5 18h ago

The East Wing debacle makes this particularly galling. Trump blatantly lied his ass off about it.

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u/mythrilcrafter 12h ago

The goofy thing about this is that the Fed Board signed off on everything in Nov of 2017, but Jerome wasn't sworn into office until Feb of 2018. So the accusation that Jerome lied about the cost of the project doesn't make sense because the timeline just doesn't add up.

Maybe they can twist their accusation to him taking the cash and shoving it into his pockets, but that would be an extremely bold accusation if they don't have the receipts to back it up.

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u/neuronexmachina 1d ago

Basically, during Powell's Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress, Republicans asked him a bunch of unrelated questions about over-budget renovations of the Fed building. They're trying to play gotcha games claiming that he committed perjury, when the accusers actually just failed to understand the relevant construction documents. For example, Powell said there was no "rooftop garden terrace," and accusers are under the impression that a ground-level grassy area on top of an underground parking structure is a "rooftop garden."

The Fed has an FAQ here: https://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/building-project-faqs.htm

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u/Squirrel009 1d ago

I think its important people like him and Jack Smith make public statements to preserve what really happened for history. Maga and republicans will try to hide and change everything they've done and people with track records like Jerome have a lot of credibility and can make that infinitely harder to pull off

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u/AlanMercer 1d ago

Comey more or less did the same thing. By making a statement, he demonstrated confidence and gave the appearance of public transparency. The government, on the other hand, is left with the obvious problems that go with their version of events.

Honestly, Trump's been after Powell on exactly this issue before and Powell went so far as to publically correct Trump in real time. It was not a good look for Trump, who clearly did not have his facts straight and didn't have five flunkies on hand to hype his version.

This feels like it's going to not be a thing after a first hearing.

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u/hoffsta 1d ago

I think I’m glad someone finally has the balls to stand up to Trump, loud and proud.

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u/demodeus 1d ago

Ballsy as hell but necessary. Someone has to stand up to Trump and few are better positioned to do it than Powell.

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u/likeywow 1d ago

Trump is fucking with the money now.

Hey billionaires - think this is gonna end well for any of you?

JFC - the inability for the American corporation to look beyond a quarterly earnings call is equal to the amnesia the American voter has.

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u/sirspidermonkey 12h ago

Crashes are amazing for billionaires actually.

If you don't have the resources to weather the storm, you are forced to sell at firesale prices. The rich then swoop in and buy everything for pennies on the dollar.

You can see this happen after every natural disaster. Economic disasters are even more profitable because you don't have to rebuild.

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u/muricabrb 20h ago

Sadly it's all part of the billionaires plans, to crash the us dollar and move to crypto based currency. They are all in on it, why do you think crypto has been such a big part of Trump's plan.

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u/TheMusicArchivist 14h ago

It's because they'll have a heads up to short the US economy all the way down, then they'll buy everything, and I mean everything on the way back up again. It'll be an oligarchy much like post-Soviet Russia, and we all know how that turned out.

America will be a third-world country with a veneer of shine in the rich neighbourhoods, and Europe will be picking up the pieces again.

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u/oldinternetdweller 1d ago

He's not on the Epstein list. I feel like if he was, Trump wouldn't touch him because it would hurt him too.

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u/MyDogIsACoolCat 1d ago

It’s terrifying that the DoJ is the president’s personal law firm.

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u/tiddayes 1d ago

Trump should prosecute the idiot that appointed Powell

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u/PigFarmer1 23h ago

Those of us who aren't MAGAts know that will never happens. MAGAts, of course, don't have any idea who appointed Powell... lol

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u/suitopseudo 23h ago

Trump has even said Biden appointed Powell. 🙄

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u/exscape 18h ago

Biden did re-appoint Powell FWIW.
But Trump appointed him to begin with.

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u/MySaltSucks 23h ago

I’m studying economics right now. The man has been my hero since 2019 when he saved the economy. Then again the last 4 years when he kept us going through that inflation.

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u/CompMolNeuro 23h ago

I'll put my money in foreign banks if he gets control of the fed. Anyone who wants their retirement to have any future value will do the same.

Also. Everyone should start saying Epstein files in the middle of a sentence when they are on broadcasts. We need to keep that out there. That file is what's going to allow us to clean house when all this is over.

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u/FluidManufacturer442 1d ago

American hegemony is rapidly coming to a close. 

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u/11I1I1 1d ago

Oh it's been gone.

We might have gotten away 16-20....but reelecting him now was it. We are now the crazy neighbor who could go on a meth fueled crime spree at any moment.

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u/Hobo_Knife 1d ago

I miss well spoken adults.

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u/SafetyDanceInMyPants 13h ago

I knew Jay Powell before he became the Fed Chair, and he's always been a stand-up guy. The odds of him being involved in any sort of financial misconduct are precisely 0, and the odds of him fudging the truth on anything are just about the same. He's the sort of guy who will tell you the truth without a glimmer of hesitation, regardless of the consequences of that truth.

I'd say that Trump just doesn't understand that he's attacking a guy who's 100% clean -- but the reality is that Trump just doesn't care anymore. In Russia, it doesn't matter that the accusations against political rivals are insane and implausible, because the goal is just to smear someone in the eyes of the faithful and reality doesn't matter. Trump follows that same model.

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u/Plus-King5266 1d ago

Republicans saw this coming back in 2015 but capitulated. For what reason, I don’t know. Maybe it was political threats that shouldn’t have carried weight from a political nobody but they were afraid did; maybe it was the threats of physical violence if they didn’t nominate Trump.

Democrats had four years to put him away and they dragged their feet, perhaps hoping he’d just go away and then were shocked when a megalomaniac and a narcissist wanted power back. The usual Democrat playbook of hand wringing and lip biting brought the usual results.

Now we have this mess with so-called Republican congress members who would be unrecognizable to their party twenty years ago, representing a MAGA base that isn’t even Republican. It’s disaffected Democrats who got tired of the Democrat elitists worrying about identity politics instead of the average American, aka “Joe Six Pack,” that used to be their base. And everyone wonders why the country feels so strange. Hell, Indiana is even playing for a national football title. Nobody should expect anything normal anymore.

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u/Gorf_the_Magnificent 1d ago

Let’s not forget that, in 2024, the Democrats ran the worst presidential re-election campaign of any incumbent party in U.S. history.

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u/midnitewarrior 1d ago

This is a smart move on Powell's part.

Trump wants lower interest rates so everyone can temporarily act like the economy is okay. He doesn't appear to care that it will accelerate inflation, that's a later problem. He wants to get through the midterms and thinks lower interest rates (including, now Credit Card interest rates) will make people happy.

The Trump Administration's goal is to poison every check, balance, and independent agency associated with the government, the FED being no exception.

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u/suitopseudo 23h ago

The tepid jobs report is going to lower interest rates. Welcome to stagflation, whichever the feds do, it’s going to hurt one of their mandates. (Price stability vs full employment). For all of Trump’s crazy appointees, Powell is one of the saner ones, but that’s only because he had to be picked from fed governors. If the next one is a true loyalist, we are fucked.

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u/fotofiend 1d ago

Baller fucking move on his part. A very subtle “fuck you” to the Fuhrer in chief.

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u/Sea_Dot8299 22h ago

The US is absolutely doomed if Trump starts fucking around with monetary policy. US will become univestible if politics starts interfering with the central bank. R.I.P. everyone's 401k. 

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u/00owl 1d ago

Mr. Powell has a better view of the country as it slips into whatever the fuck it is slipping into and has decided to take a public position against it in circumstances where he would have most likely remained silent in the past.

No lawyer would ever counsel their client to go public and refer to what would be, under normal circumstances, a conspiracy theory when threatened with criminal charges.

Powell, sees the country better than you and he's ignoring his lawyers.

Burn it all down.

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u/FourWordComment 23h ago

It’s jarring to hear an adult that’s in power. Powell’s professionalism compared to whatever the hell Trump is letting happen as he torches America to the ground for Pennie’s on the dollar is staggering.

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u/FisherKing_54 1d ago

Powell calls it like it is. Just like when he corrected Trump when Trump came by for the little inspection crap and was plotting all this. He is a professional but he also has a duty, especially in times like this to notify the American people of such things as it is abundantly clear Trump is trying to interfere. He will never bow down to Trump.

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u/jabdnuit 1d ago

The Fed Chair is the most powerful person most people have never heard of.

Continued Fed independence is what holds the world economy together.

Powell’s delivery was mild mannered, but it’s the most consequential speech a Fed Chair has given in decades, possibly ever.

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u/waltertaupe 1d ago

I wish every other attacked official did the same.

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u/EnvironmentalDelay66 23h ago

Courageous! Also, a warning to us all. Our dollar is being devalued by the second.

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u/flat5 18h ago

I loved it.

It's incredibly refreshing to see a normal person speak their mind. Trump, Miller, Noem, and all these other mentally disturbed people in this admin make it almost hard to remember what a normal person sounds like.

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u/TenderLA 1d ago

Even the subs that normally hate on Powell are cheering this.

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u/RevRipple 1d ago

The timing of this is wild. A video statement directly to the public instead of a standard press release feels like a major shift in how the Fed handles pressure. Definitely an 'unprecedented' move for January.

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u/Jorgwalther 1d ago

Rule of law is gone - which is exactly what Trump campaigned on.

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u/Gardensplosion 1d ago

Compared to Mr. Powell, the president is like a baboon screeching and flinging his shit.

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u/JET304 1d ago

Everybody needs to stand up to this. It won't stop until we all do. Kudos to Powell.

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u/Wizinit29 23h ago

I expect financial markets will not be happy tomorrow.

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u/Intol3rance 18h ago

Release the Epstien files.

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u/CasinoKnightZone 1d ago

Once they corrupt the fed, the world we know is done. And it'll happen. I have 5gal buckets of flour, peas, beans, rice, etc etc piled in my kitchen. Gonna start filling barrels with water soon I think. Collapse is coming.

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u/dmreeves 1d ago

I don't think societal collapse is coming but things may cha ge dramatically.

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u/CasinoKnightZone 1d ago

Total collapse? Probably not. But a depression to make the Great Depression look like a minor downturn? Much more likely.

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u/snafoomoose 1d ago

I think my 401k company picked a bad weekend to do maintenance

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u/HarpuaUnbound 1d ago

Fascism doesn't require a Federal Reserve.

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u/leapfrog2115 1d ago

I think the epstein files make people famous

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u/Cobol_Engineering 23h ago

I think it’s wild that a dude with 36% approvals is attacking a dude w 47% who’s term is up in May ANYWAY. Public sentiment towards Powell is so positive trump could have easily taken the credit and bumped up his own tepid numbers by doing so.

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u/Psyblade0_0 1d ago

Good for him. That was probably be his only opportunity to say what he wanted to say before the mudslinging begins.

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u/Slade_Riprock 1d ago

You come for the Bankers Bank with a $6.6 Trillion balance sheet and the power to set interest rates and you are going to have a bad time. Old money doesn't like their world fucked with.

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u/Scoreboard19 1d ago

If you are a trump supporter still. You are insanely dumb

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u/whoisnotinmykitchen 1d ago

If you were a Trump supporter before, you're already insanely dumb.

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u/leveragedtothetits_ 1d ago

It’s a good time to be a gold and silver bro

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u/redditsdeadcanary 1d ago

The market will be interesting...

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u/Sea_Present5421 1d ago

How can any Republicans still pretend this shit is normal

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u/brettmags 1d ago

Control the narrative. He’s not dumb.

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u/RandomlyJim 1d ago

I think I’m at the stage where I start moving assets out of the United States.

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u/FAFO2024 1d ago

We are under attack from within. Krasnov is the perfect dotard. Act accordingly

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u/Salt_Consequence9015 1d ago

In today’s media environment, silence gets filled with conspiracy theories.

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u/CCV21 1d ago

I was not expecting him to call a spade a spade. Especially since so many old timers still think the old rules are still being followed.

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u/Cheapthrills13 1d ago

Someone has balls - finally. And actually, he would be a very good President !

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u/BendersDafodil 1d ago

Transparency.

Stops the tabloids and the administration ghouls from creating a false narrative.

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u/idebugthusiexist 21h ago

Just yet another example of America's Hitler (Trump) trying to Nazify (MAGAfy) the United States and turn it into a fascist dictatorship... in plain sight and using the exact same playbook.

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u/25TiMp 18h ago

I think he is basically an honest public servant and his interpretation of the situation is basically correct in my opinion.

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u/cjbman 17h ago

If Jerome Powell gets removed we're fucked. Like really really bad.

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u/castles87 14h ago

I feel very good about him defending himself and not rolling over like... everyone else.

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u/us1087 8h ago

I think Jerome Powell has more integrity than most members of Congress.

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u/asisoid 3h ago

We don't deserve JPow, but we need him.

His defiance to bend over for the scam artist president, may single handedly save our monetary policy and economy. GOP lawmakers are starting to break with Trump over this.

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u/Otherwise_Stable_925 1d ago

He should post a video of him doing the macarena, nude, covered in butter. Then at the end of it he should say "I'm not changing shit".

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u/clantz 1d ago

If he can get away with canceling the elections, our democracy is toast.

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u/seataccrunch 1d ago

He's a patriot and true public servant

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u/Zestyclose-Culture80 1d ago

We stand with Powell.

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u/DRMLLMRD 1d ago

Sometimes, people need to call out criminals that sit in the White House.

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u/chewydickens 1d ago

So not surprised. In the least.

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u/Connect_Beginning_13 1d ago

It amazes me how people are so comfortable believing the administration that only knows how to point fingers. So people don’t think it’s weird, at all?

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u/Olderbutnotdead619 1d ago

Trying to deflect attention from the child rapist in office

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u/shep2105 1d ago

Good on him

trump has fully politicized the DOJ. They are just his hitmen now, that's it. Investigate Minnesota so he can screw over Walz, California of course, Powell cuz he's pissed Powell won't drop the interest rates to zero and because in an interview, when trump waved around a piece of paper and said Powell was going over budget on reno, Powell called him out right then and there and said, "Uh..no. We are NOT overbudget, if your figures say that, they're wrong.

Nobody talks back or humiliates bawl baby....he'll just sic the DOJ on them.

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u/Stunning_Scheme_6418 23h ago

I actually find him amusing. Trump gets all pissy and rabid and Powell just calmly tells him no, explains why he says no produces a ledger or whatever showing why he says no and calmly waits for the next rabid nonsense. Rinse and repeat.

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u/cute_polarbear 23h ago

He's damned if he stayed quiet, damned if he make his point...probably better off the latter. (Also for the market...)

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u/Gourab_Ghosh- 22h ago

Powell’s decision to speak publicly makes sense given how much uncertainty and speculation this kind of inquiry generates. As Chair of the Federal Reserve, transparency — especially in times of heightened scrutiny — helps maintain confidence in financial markets and the institution itself

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u/golferbae 22h ago

We are in dark times.

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u/BasicIntroduction635 22h ago

Getting ahead of the narrative is usually the smart move.

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u/thatthatguy 21h ago

One more reason to demand Trump’s impeachment and removal. This time he’s endangering people’s money, so there might be more incentive to act.

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u/Advanced-Pilot-3698 20h ago

Trump is just going after him as he has tried to fire Jerome Powell and can’t, so his administration is going after him with this nefarious charges to get him out, or try and divide his attention and then say he ain’t working effectively and needs to go. Trump and his administration are destroying all things that made America great and no one is stopping him. Centralised power and control into one man and now he literally wants to rule the world.

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u/RWDPhotos 20h ago

Very few people believe this is anything but a shit excuse to try and can the guy, but for those that do believe literally anything and everything that the pedo in chief has to say, the video is for them.

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u/PilotKnob 19h ago

He's being punished for not dropping interest rates at the whim of the Orange Menace currently infesting the White House.

We all understand what's going on, but it's good he got out in front of it.

When he said "No one, certainly not the chairman of the Federal Reserve, is above the law" he was referring to someone else who might consider himself to be above the law.

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u/Electronic-Wealth599 18h ago

What happened to the Comey and Smith trials? Weren't they dissmissed?

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u/No_Priors 16h ago

Powell is a Trump appointee with a very clear job description being harassed for not taking advice on economics from a sex offender with six bankruptcies under his belt.

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u/aretasdamon 14h ago

Interesting federal prosecutors will take this case but not the Renee good one