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Question: Is a country trending in a healthy direction if the head of its central bank releases an SOS message about the political persecution he’s suffering?

On Sunday evening, the Federal Reserve posted a video of Chairman Jay Powell speaking directly to the camera about how the Justice Department had launched a criminal investigation into the Fed. While superficially related to excessive Federal Reserve building renovation costs, Powell said, “the threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.” The administration is trying to spook Powell into cutting rates deeper and, if he doesn’t, ginning up cause to fire him.

You don’t want a central bank that makes interest rate decisions according to presidential demands. There’s significant overlap between countries whose leaders meddle in their central banks’ decisions and those that suffer hyperinflation. This is one of those bright red lines separating functioning countries—however barely, in the case of the good ol’ U.S.—from the rest, and why the move against Powell has former Treasury secretaries and Fed chairs rushing to start a Substack to condemn it.

In a political system with a functioning brain, the threat of........

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