Kevin Warsh Is the Right Man for This Moment at the Federal Reserve

Guest Opinion by Perry O. Hooper, Jr.

At pivotal moments in American economic history, the Federal Reserve needs more than a credentialed academic or a cautious caretaker. It needs a steady hand with real world experience, institutional memory, and the confidence to act decisively when the stakes are high. President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to serve as the next Chair of the Federal Reserve is exactly that kind of choice.

Warsh is not a theorist peering at the economy from thirty thousand feet. He is a seasoned practitioner who has operated at the intersection of markets, policy, and power on Wall Street, inside the White House, and at the highest levels of the Federal Reserve itself. At a time when inflation, debt, and global uncertainty continue to test America’s economic foundations, that combination matters.

One of Warsh’s strongest qualifications is hard earned crisis experience. He served as a governor of the Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis, operating in the depths of one of the worst economic collapses in modern history. During that period, he was widely recognized as the Federal Reserve’s principal liaison to Wall Street, trusted to communicate with financial leaders while policymakers worked to stabilize a system on the brink. That experience cannot be simulated in textbooks or academic models. It must be lived.

Warsh also brings deep institutional knowledge of the Federal Reserve itself. From February 2006 through March 2011, he served on the Board of Governors after being nominated by President George W. Bush. He understands how decisions are made inside the central bank, how policy is implemented, and how credibility is either preserved or squandered over time.

Beyond domestic policy, Warsh gained substantial international experience as the Federal Reserve’s representative to the Group of 20. In that role, he worked directly with foreign central banks and finance ministers, building relationships that matter when global coordination is required. As Chair, that background will be critical when engaging counterparts at the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, and other major monetary authorities on issues of global financial stability.

Warsh’s private sector background further distinguishes him from the conventional central banking mold. Before entering public service, he worked at Morgan Stanley in mergers and acquisitions and advised companies across key sectors, including manufacturing and technology. He understands how capital markets function in the real economy, how investment decisions are made, and how policy signals translate into business behavior. That perspective is essential at a time when monetary decisions ripple quickly through labor markets, supply chains, and innovation.

His experience inside the executive branch adds another layer of preparation. Warsh previously served in the Bush administration as a special assistant to the President for economic policy and as executive secretary of the National Economic Council. He understands how monetary policy interacts with fiscal policy, trade, and national economic strategy. Business leaders have taken notice. Chevron Chief Executive Officer Mike Wirth has described Warsh as uniquely prepared, citing his judgment, experience, and temperament to serve the country at a critical time.

That seriousness of purpose matters, because the Federal Reserve’s greatest asset is not its balance sheet, its models, or its press conferences. It is credibility. As Milton Friedman famously observed, inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon. Inflation is not caused by chance or convenience. It is the result of policy choices.

Friedman also warned that the Federal Reserve has been the source of major disturbances in the economy. That insight was not an argument against central banking, but against complacency and overreach. Kevin Warsh understands that credibility, once lost, is extraordinarily difficult to restore, and that prolonged monetary excess ultimately harms working families and savers far more than financial insiders.

President Donald Trump did not nominate Kevin Warsh to preserve the status quo. He nominated him to restore discipline, seriousness, and accountability to the Federal Reserve. Trump has made clear that America needs growth driven by productivity, investment, and confidence, not bubbles inflated by perpetual intervention.

By nominating Kevin Warsh, President Trump has chosen experience over experiment, judgment over ideology, and credibility over comfort. At a moment when monetary policy must once again respect economic reality, this was the right decision by the right President, made in the best interests of the American people.

Perry O. Hooper Jr. is a longtime Alabama Republican figure, former Alabama Legislator and Montgomery businessman. He served as Co-Chair of “Alabama Trump Victory” in 2016, and served as an at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention. He is a noted civic leader in Montgomery with deep family roots in Alabama’s legal and political history.

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