Scarlet Fu

Vanguard Marketing Corporation Distributor.

I'm pleased to say that we are now joined live by former Kansas City Fed President Esther George.

Esther, thank you so much for joining us today.

From where you sit as a former regional Fed president, do you see this as a legal dispute between President Trump and Lisa Cook, the private citizen who applied for mortgages before she was named to the Fed board?

Or is this more a dispute between President Trump and the Federal Reserve as an institution?

And personnel determines policy, as we've heard so many times from this administration.

And the concern here is that the president will next target the appointments or the renewal of appointments of regional Fed presidents in February of next year.

How concerned are you about that?

You point out the jobs report that's coming out next week.

We know that the president fired the head of economic statistics over at BLS, and we don't know whether that will affect the quality of the data immediately or in the long term, but it does open this door to doubt creeping in over the quality of that data.

If you were a sitting Fed president still, how would you broaden out your reliance on other data?

Right, the on-the-ground research that keeps you close by to what your region is telling you.

If the president successfully remakes the Fed to reflect his priorities, which is lower rates and a lower rate cycle overall, what would that mean for debates on things like the neutral rate, the 2% inflation target, the framework overall?

Do they just become academic discussions and not as relevant to the actual policymaking?

Esther, we really appreciate your joining us today.

Esther George is a former Kansas City Fed president.

Thank you so much.

Today's show is brought to you by Vanguard.

To all the financial advisors listening, let's talk bonds for a minute.

Capturing value and fixed income is not easy.