Who is Jerome Powell?

Kevin Warsh, widely assumed to be a hawk, argued at his confirmation hearing that AI makes the current environment deflationary, positioning him as more dovish than Powell.

“In his confirmation hearing, he said that he thinks this current environment because of AI is going to be deflationary.”

Jim Bianco on Powell potentially becoming the swing vote at the FOMC regardless of his own preference.

“Powell could be the swing vote. In as early as the June meeting, he could be the swing vote, whether he likes it or not.”

Lisa Cook (Fed Governor): a Supreme Court ruling on Trump's ability to fire her could immediately trigger Powell's removal, making her case a key watch point for Fed independence.

“If the Supreme Court gives President Trump an opening to fire Lisa Cook, he'll probably fire J. Powell that same day.”

Anthropic (systemic financial risk): An Anthropic AI model prompted Jerome Powell (Fed) and Scott Bessent (Treasury) to call an urgent meeting of major bank CEOs to plan internal deployment, and was described by JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon as a five-alarm fire.

“When you have Jerome Powell, the chief of the Fed, and Scott Bessent, the Secretary of Treasury, looking at this and immediately calling an urgent meeting of all the CEOs of the banks, saying, 'We have to deploy this internally.'”

Jim Bianco on Powell using the Fed as a shield against scrutiny over building cost overruns.

“I'm going to hold the Federal Reserve hostage so no one ever looks into us.”