Is the Fed Really That Independent? | Everybody's Business

On this week’s episode of Everybody’s Business we're joined by Rohit Chopra, former director of the now largely kneecapped () Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He argues that Trump’s efforts to apply political pressure to the Fed present an opportunity to scrutinize the central bank’s decisionmaking. Chopra points out that the Fed’s governors, who tend to either come from academia or Wall Street, originally came from a more eclectic array of backgroundswith perhaps more sensitivity to the needs of small business owners and consumers.

“I really think a good central bank is really good for democracy,” Chopra says. “But I think it has to also change with the times so that it is responsive and that it is not seen as a group of priests and priestesses who make determinations about our lives without really understanding how the economy is working on the ground.”

Also this week, we bring in Bloomberg News reporter Randall Williams to unpack the story that is currently roiling the world of professional basketballallegations that Los Angeles Clippersowner Steve Ballmer improperly funneled payments to one of the team’s stars via a dubious (and now bankrupt) fintech company, Aspiration. Ballmer has denied the allegations, which first surfaced in an episode () of the podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out. Aspiration’s cofounder has denied being party to any scheme to evade the salary cap.

Williams explains why the story has garnered so much interest among NBA owners and how it illustrates the importance of salary caps in order to maintain competitive balance.

Finally, we unpack a strange case of fake branding, involving the logo of Elon Musk’s aerospace company.

A smart and fun chat show about all things business. Hosted by award-winning business and economics journalists Max Chafkin (author of The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power) and Stacey Vanek Smith (former co-host of NPR’s Planet Money and reporter for Marketplace), Everybody's Business is powered by the unparalleled sources and reporters who bring you Businessweek magazine’s headlines and the stories behind them. The show gives listeners a window into the discussions happening in boardrooms, Zooms and group chats in power centers around the world. From interpreting Fed meetings to the business of wolf cloning, each week Max, Stacey and their friends at Bloomberg Businessweek guide listeners through what really went on during the last week from Wall Street and Main Street. Because what’s happening with money and markets is everybody’s business.

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Is the Fed Really That Independent?

Everybody's Business