The Federal Reserve must fight its own battles

Getting involved in other political fights will undermine the credibility of America's central bank – and that could affect us all, says Matthew Lynn.

Sarah Bloom Raskin
Raskin: now one of the most powerful figures in finance
(Image credit: © BILL CLARK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

With inflation at its highest level in 30 years, the global economy struggling to recover from the pandemic, and now with a conflict in Ukraine threatening to send commodity prices spiralling upwards, you might think that the Federal Reserve, still the most important player in global finance, had enough on its plate already.

Yet US president Joe Biden is busily appointing a series of woke warriors to its board to see that it is also tackling climate change, promoting inclusion, diversity and gender awareness, and sorting out reparations for slavery. By politicising the Fed, Biden risks destroying its credibility – and that matters for the whole of the global economy.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.