Markets vote for Fed chair Powell

Conspiracy theories that the US Federal Reserve is a tool of the “deep state” have percolated since at least the 1990s, when pseudoscientist G. Edward Griffin wrote The Creature from Jekyll Island. More recently Curtis Yarvin, an influential far-right thinker, has questioned whether Fed independence is a good idea — despite evidence that countries with independent central banks have lower inflation and interest rates.

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No wonder the financial markets wobbled last week on reports that Donald Trump plans to fire Jerome “Jay” Powell, the Fed chair. They sent a clear message: do not mess with the Fed’s independence.