“Nein, Nein, Nein.” That is Herman Cain’s response (loosely translated to German) to the White House’s subtle hints that he should drop his candidacy for the Fed Board.
One day after Bloomberg reported that the White House is in discussion with candidates to replace Herman Cain and Stephen Moore following a widespread outcry over their candidacy, on Wednesday the WSJ reported that Herman Cain he has no intention of withdrawing his name from consideration for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, despite a clear lack of sufficient support – even among Republicans – for Senate confirmation if President Trump nominates him.
The former pizza company executive said that he’s “very committed” to sticking with the process of being vetted by the White House as it considers whether to formally nominate him for the position, the WSJ reported following an interview with the failed presidential candidate.
He said the Fed needs “new voices” and it has been “too quick” to raise interest rates in the past, a view he expressed to Trump and his top economic adviser Lawrence Kudlow in a meeting in late January at the White House. In doing so, he confirms that Trump is aggressively seeking to stack the Fed board with doves so that the Fed will cut rates ahead of the all important 2020 presidential election to avoid a recession which would likely cripple Trump’s chances for a second term.
“The president asked me one simple question…He said, ’Would you consider doing this if you make it through the process?’ I said yes. Didn’t hesitate,” Cain told the WSJ during the interview at his office in suburban Atlanta.
Despite Cain’s refusal to withdraw, his rejection is all but assured after four Republican senators said last week they wouldn’t support Cain due to concerns including his conservative activism and sexual-harassment allegations, which he has denied.
Unless some of those senators change their stance, or unless Cain manages to win Democratic or Independent support which will not happen, he would leave him short of the votes needed for confirmation. Sensing that he is a lost cause, the White House has taken a noncommittal tone about Cain’s chances of making it through the process. On Tuesday, Larry Kudlow said “it will probably be up to Herman Cain if he wants to stay in that process or not.”
Ironically, Cain said it was Kudlow’s idea to consider him for the Fed job in January, after Trump had been venting his frustration about interest-rate increases for months. Cain said the last time they spoke, Kudlow encouraged him to hang in there—though he couldn’t specify when exactly that was.
“What Kudlow was doing was giving me an out, and I appreciate that, but I don’t want an out. I don’t want an out,” Cain said, adding that he doesn’t think the White House is getting cold feet about his potential nomination, even though it clearly is.
“You know that the president is a fighter, and Kudlow is a fighter. They might be getting a lot of blowback from some folks, I don’t know. But I don’t think they’re getting uncomfortable with it.”
And while Cain refuses to accept reality, Trump will have no choice but to find one – or perhaps two – new uberdoves to replace the current duo he has nominated, and whose odds of being approved are virtually nil. As such, we once again recommend AOC, for the simple reason that if there is one person who can finally end the Fed, it would be the upstart Democratic Socialist, who will sooner or later mandate the Fed to print the roughly $100 trillion needed to fund her Green New Deal, and in doing so end the reign of the reserve currency once and for all.
via ZeroHedge News http://bit.ly/2vbGMgM Tyler Durden