BREAKING, INSIDE THE FEDERAL RESERVE: Hidden Camera captures Federal Reserve Principal Economist talking about Jerome Powell’s legacy as “somebody who held the line against like, Trump.” The influential agency responsible for maintaining a stable monetary system appears to not just be establishing interest rates, but to be setting policies for desired social outcomes.
“Under Powell, the Fed has changed to think about equity issues, like racial issues, think about wealth inequality as part of the mandate, as part of the things we are following. Think about climate change.” Aurel Hizmo, Principal Economist at the Federal Reserve, who prior to working at the Fed was an NYU Stern Assistant Professor and received his PhD in Economics from Duke University, helps write speeches for Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell for the Federal Open Market Committee.
Hizmo says “Trump is just a crazy person” and conservatives are “dumb” as he describes to OMG’s American Swiper Citizen Journalist a politicized Federal Reserve Board where Powell has promoted ESG issues like climate change and “wants to be remembered in history” “as a savior.” But shhh…don’t tell anyone because Hizmo says: “I’m just really worried that I’m saying stuff that’s classified…It’s all classified.”
In this week’s investigation, an OMG Swiper Journalist caught on hidden camera Aurel Hizmo, Principal Economist, Real Estate Finance Section, Research and Statistics, for the Federal Reserve Board – the influential agency responsible for maintaining a stable central banking system by setting national monetary policy, controlling the money supply, supervising and regulating banks, and maintaining financial stability. Hizmo stated that he helps write speeches for Federal Reserve Board of Governors Chairman Jerome Powell for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the committee that assesses price stability and sustainable economic growth to determine monetary policy – the most familiar of which is setting changes to interest rates which in turn affects inflation, the stock market, and our ability to obtain favorable home loans and afford groceries.
Intended to be an apolitical body, Hizmo’s conversations with OMG’s Swiper Journalist seem to reflect a politicized Fed. Hizmo described Powell hating Trump and having a contentious relationship with him where Powell was very concerned with his own legacy as “somebody who held the line against like, Trump.” Hizmo recounted how when Donald Trump was president, he had wanted Powell to lower interest rates in order to stimulate the economy, “but he [Powell] wouldn’t do it, and he started raising interest rates, doing the opposite of what Trump wanted” implying Powell was chiefly concerned with the appearance of opposing Trump over simply focusing on the best policies for the health of the American financial system.
Of note, when asked about Powell’s relationship with Biden, Hizmo made sure to specify that Powell’s positive relationship was with “the Biden administration.” In specifying Powell’s relationship with “the Biden administration” instead of Biden himself, Hizmo implied an absent Biden where Biden’s administration makes the decisions in contrast to Trump who communicated directly with Powell and determined presidential policy himself.
In depicting Fed Chair Jerome Powell as someone who “wants to preserve his legacy as someone…As a savior” who is making decisions at the Fed “doing it for the legacy,” Hizmo also revealed Powell has created an environment at the Fed to mandate ESG (environment, social and governance) policies. “Under Powell, the Fed has changed to think about equity issues, like racial issues, think about wealth inequality as part of the mandate, as part of the things we are following. Think about climate change,” Hizmo explained adding the Fed is now “a friendly environment where we can hire climate scientists.” This is confirmed by Fed action not too long after the Biden administration’s Financial Stability Oversight Council identified climate change as a threat to financial stability, whereby the Fed announced a partnership with the nation’s six largest banks – Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo to pilot a “climate scenario analysis exercise” to measure and track climate-related financial risks in 2023. The mission of the Federal Reserve is to foster the stability, integrity, and efficiency of the nation’s monetary, financial, and payment systems to promote optimal macroeconomic performance. How does mandating ESG metrics, which have been shown to contribute to inflation and hurt bottom lines, support that mission?
Hizmo also described a Fed where “People think they’re [conservatives are] dumb” and declared, “Trump is just a crazy person.” When asked if he worked with any conservatives, Hizmo responded, “I don’t think so. All the people I work with are academics.” Asked if he thought conservatives would be discriminated against, Hizmo replied, “it depends on, like, how, like, out there they [conservatives] are,” further illustrating a politicized and insulated Ivory Tower that cannot be good for the integrity of research.
When a central bank, something the Founders actively debated and primarily opposed, is a politicized entity implementing policies like ESG for desired social outcomes, we must continue to ask how the Fed’s agenda impacts American society and who benefits. Perhaps this is why Hizmo confirmed the Federal Reserve’s reputation for lacking transparency when he said, “I’m just really worried that I’m saying stuff that’s classified…It’s all classified.”
