The Fed Beyond Bessent

Putting money back on a Constitutional course will take more than a single personnel move

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell in May 2025.

Bloomberg News is stoking speculation that the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, will take over from Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve when Powell’s term expires on May 15, 2026. “Bessent Emerges as Possible Contender to Succeed Fed’s Powell,” was a Bloomberg story yesterday. “Paul Tudor Jones Sees Bessent as Pick for Fed Chair,” is a Bloomberg story today.

Bessent told Congress today that he has the best job in Washington and would like to stay through 2029 to complete the administration’s agenda. We read the leaks to Bloomberg (and before that to Stephanie Ruhle) as fantasizing by Howard Lutnick, the Commerce secretary and Trump transition co-chair, who is ambitious to amass power for himself by shoving Bessent aside.

Whether Trump nominates Bessent to succeed Powell or, whether, more likely, the president picks someone else, fixing the Federal Reserve will require more than merely a personnel change at the top.