Jackson Hole, WY
The world’s attention turned toward one of America’s natural wonders last week as Federal Reserve officials and others gathered for their annual symposium in Grand Teton National Park. With President Trump’s agenda sending diplomatic and economic shock waves around the world, investors and policymakers want to understand how the Fed will respond to the unconventional policies and unprecedented pressures from the most activist administration in many years.
Central bankers aren’t supposed to have an easy job. One role of an independent central bank is to be a punching bag for politicians eager to deflect blame for anything in the economy that voters don’t like. Even by those standards, 2025 has been a tough year for the Fed. Not since Andrew Jackson’s war against Nicholas Biddle and the Second Bank of the United States has a presidential administration attacked a central bank and its leader like Team Trump has this year.