Jerome Powell

As I mentioned, I'm literally staying because of the actions that have been taken.

I had long planned to be retiring, and the things that have happened really in the last three months have, I think, left me no choice but to stay until I see them through at least that long.

In addition, I don't see how this will interfere.

My intention is not to interfere.

I will not leave the board until this investigation is well and truly over with transparency and finality.

And I stand by that.

My concern is really about the series of legal attacks on the Fed, which threaten our ability to conduct monetary policy without considering political factors.

What's clear is that our debt is growing much faster.

The federal government debt is growing substantially faster than our economy, and that ratio is going up, and in the long run, that's kind of the definition of unsustainable.

The level of the debt is not unsustainable, but the path is not sustainable.

And so it's really important that we get back to, we don't have to pay the debt down, we just need to have primary balance and

and begin to have the economy actually growing better, growing more quickly than the economy.

It will not end well if we don't do something fairly soon.

This is not the Fed's job, of course, and I pretty much limit myself to those high-level points which essentially everyone ignores.

You can have a series of these supply shocks, and that can lead the public generally, businesses, price setters, households.

But he says that there isn't a lot Fed policymakers can do.

We here at the Fed are rationally exuberant to celebrate your 100th birthday with you.

The unemployment rate was 4.4% in December and has changed little in recent months.

Job gains have remained low.

Total non-farm payrolls declined at an average pace of 22,000 per month over the last three months, excluding government employment.