2025-09-02
9 分钟Hello, Alice Fullwood here, co-host of Money Talks,
our weekly podcast on markets, the economy and business.
Welcome to Editor's Picks.
You're about to hear an article from the latest edition of The Economist.
Thanks for listening.
Pity the bond trader without Truth Social on their phone.
All it took was one after-dinner missive, fired off by the President on his social network,
to turn the White House's tussle with the Federal Reserve into something more worrying.
On August 25th, Donald Trump posted a letter saying he had fired Lisa Cook,
a Fed governor, for alleged mortgage fraud.
Although presidents can sack Fed officials, they can do so only for cause,
and none has used the power before.
Ms Cook has not been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of one.
The claim that she listed two homes
as her primary residence was first made by Bill Pulte of the Federal Housing Finance Agency,
who has made similar claims against others, none yet leading to legal charges.
Ms Cook has pledged to fight the firing in court and, in the meantime, to stay in her post.
The move is a remarkable escalation in Mr Trump's campaign against independent central banking.
The Fed was mostly peripheral in his first term,
occasional grumbles aside, but has become a bogeyman in his second.