Tweedledum and Tweedledee at the Fed

One purported difference is that Mr. Powell will be more independent than Ms. Brainard, who is close to Treasury and a partisan Democrat. As Donald Luskin of TrendMacro notes, she struck a dovish tone in September before the 2016 election, but on the eve of the Trump Presidency in January 2017 she suddenly discovered that the Fed was close to its inflation and unemployment targets. Two months later she was calling for tighter money. As she has auditioned for the top job, her recent speeches have embraced the Democratic Party’s progressive passions—climate change, racial and gender equity, “financial inclusion.”