The last four years have seen no shortage of irony, but it still spins your head to think that the incoming administration might turn out to be more fiscally conservative than the last one. Ted Kaufman, the former Delaware senator said to be one of the most influential members of President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team, is worried about the federal budget deficit. “When we get in, the pantry is going to be bare,” he lamented in August. “When you see what Trump’s done to the deficit … with the incredible tax cuts. So we’re going to be limited.”
In contrast, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who was appointed by Donald Trump, isn’t talking about empty pantries or deficits or the looming threat of inflation. He has argued that we needn’t worry about our low (indeed, effectively negative) interest rates until forever. And he’s right.
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