Moore has not distanced himself from politics as he awaits confirmation to the Federal Reserve Board.
By Heather Long and Heather Long Economics correspondent Email Bio Follow Damian Paletta Damian Paletta Reporter covering economic policy Email Bio Follow March 28 at 6:29 PM Stephen Moore, President Trump’s new pick to join the Federal Reserve, took a highly unusual step this week for a nominee to serve on a central bank, which takes pains to distance itself from politics.
With Congress probably deadlocked on major legislation, the Fed’s course could be a major factor shaping the economy in the coming years. If it cuts rates, it could bolster economic growth and conceivably tip the 2020 election toward Trump. But the risk, according to former Fed officials and Wall Street experts, is that the Fed loses its credibility to make tough, apolitical decisions.
Moore could also face scrutiny over $75,000 in unpaid taxes and a $350,000 penalty the Club for Growth paid to settle Federal Election Commission violations when he was president of the political advocacy organization. Moore has a tax lien against him for $75,000 in unpaid taxes that he owes the Internal Revenue Service, a fact first reported by the Guardian. Moore directed questions about the lien to his wife, Anne Carey, who did not respond to requests for comment. She told Bloomberg News that her husband’s 2014 return had erroneously claimed a deduction for child support payments to Moore’s former wife, which is not allowed.
But Moore was ousted from the Club for Growth in 2004. The FEC investigated the Club for Growth’s activities while he was at the helm of the organization and said it failed to register as a political committee and submit its expenditures properly “despite spending millions of dollars on federal campaign activity during the 2000, 2002, and 2004 election cycle.” The Club for Growth ultimately paid a $350,000 penalty to settle with the FEC.
“I view it as the first strike and really something over the longer run that could impact the culture of the place,” said Jeremy Stein, a Harvard University economist who served at the Fed from 2012 until 2014. During the financial crisis, he said the Fed was making a mistake cutting interest rates to near zero, warning it could spur huge inflation and undermine the dollar. Neither happened.
“Trumpism as a political phenomenon wasn’t a big mystery to us. We had lived through two terms of a mostly failed Republican president in George W. Bush,” wrote Moore and economist Arthur B. Laffer, a longtime friend, in their recent book “Trumponomics.” In a commentary for the National Review, he called soccer a “Marxist” sport that “teaches our kids all the wrong lessons” in life.
Moore’s nomination is strongly backed by Laffer and Larry Kudlow, the head of Trump’s National Economic Council and a longtime friend of Moore’s .
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