A conversation between Kevin Hassett, and Roman Pletter, Deputy Head of Economics, DIE ZEIT. May 15, 2018. Photo courtesy of US Embassy Berlin.

In a discussion with reporters on Air Force One, President Trump was asked about his choice to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chairman, and Trump responded, “I know who I’m gonna pick!”

Another reporter then asked, “Is it Kevin Hassett?”

Trump, with a trademark smirk, responded, “I’m not telling you. We’ll be announcing it.”

The financial press immediately exploded with speculation on Hassett as the nominee.

Hassett is currently Director of the National Economic Council. He also served in Trump’s first administration. Earlier in his career, he worked at the Federal Reserve and for both the Bush (1) and Clinton Treasury departments. He spent a while at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he worked with R. Glenn Hubbard on fiscal policy.

Hassett makes sense, given Trump’s tendency to choose loyalists, especially in his second term. Hassett is the only administration insider who was among the five named finalists for the position. The other finalists included:

  • Former Fed Gov. Kevin Warsh
  • Fed Gov. Michelle Bowman
  • Fed Gov. Christopher Waller
  • BlackRock Exec. Rick Rieder

By no means is Hassett’s nomination a foregone conclusion, but his nomination would signal that President Trump intends to remake the Federal Reserve. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has led the search for Trump’s nominee, and was even considered as an option for nominee himself, has laid out some priorities for the next Fed Chairman, including simplifying the Fed. Bessent explained on CNBC:

I realize the Fed has become this very complicated operation….The Fed has taken us into a new regime — what is called ample reserves regime — and it looks like that might be fraying a bit here in terms of whether the reserves are actually ample in the system…There are all these facilities and operations, the standing repo facilities, and I think we’ve got to simplify things…There’s this very complicated calculus between the monetary policy, the balance sheet and regulatory policy. And we’ve really emphasized in the interviews, what’s the interplay for that calculus?…I think it’s time for the Fed just to move back into the background….We just need to calm down all these speeches by these bank presidents that are just redundant…These regional presidents were supposed to be people from the district. And we’ve got at least three, maybe four, of the reserve banks where people were hired from outside the district. They don’t even live in their district. They commute back to New York.

Action Line: Whether or not Kevin Hassett is the next Federal Reserve Chairman, look for big changes at the Fed in the future. Click here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.

Originally posted on Your Survival Guy.