Why the $38 trillion national debt doomed Fed independence regardless of the Trump/Powell drama, top economist says

When Fed Chair Jerome Powell announced Sunday evening he was under criminal investigation from the DOJ this week, the markets braced for a shock.  The probe—centered on a $2.6 billion renovation of the Fed’s Washington headquarters—was immediately branded by an unusually direct Powell as a “pretext” to force interest rate cuts. Futures went down.

Yet, Monday came, and while gold and silver went vertical, equities stayed calm and the dollar barely drifted. To economist Tyler Cowen, the...