Fed chair Jerome Powell is in Jackson Hole to deliver his last speech there. He’ll speak Friday morning on “Economic Outlook and Framework Review.” His term ends in the spring.
President Trump has publicly pressured him to resign and to cut rates. The tensions between them are palpable. The President has called for the resignation of Governor Lisa Cook as well. Markets currently expect a 25 basis point rate cut next month. July jobs data was weak (arguing for a cut) but inflation has been above target (making cuts risky).
Friday’s speech isn’t just about September – it’s a discussion of the Fed’s monetary policy framework for the next five years. It could disrupt financial markets – and every word counts.
So here’s my unpopular take: the Chairman of the Federal Reserve should not be flying United Airlines. If he flew from the Fed offices in D.C. he presumably connected in Denver, even (United has a Newark non-stop). Get the man a jet. He and his money printer have the best memes.
This picture was taken a few hours ago by a friend of mine at the airport in Jackson Hole.
This guy's had a rough day! pic.twitter.com/veSeqnr0Es— Michael A. Blum (@mablum) August 21, 2025
It’s government travel, and that’s often in coach, but Secretary of Transportation can fly private. The FAA has its own fleet of aircraft and its own Flight Program Operations unit to operate them.
- 3 Challenger 601-3Rs
- 6 Challenger 605s
- 8 King Air C90s
- 17 King Air B300s
They’ve removed their Bombardier Global 5000, Challenger 604, and Citation Sovereign+ from the fleet over roughly the past year. Biden DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg flew on FAA aircraft at least 30 times.
Former Fed Chair Janet Yellin continued flying commercial as Treasury Secretary but this is dumb. Here she is relegated to row 19 on Delta, without enough space to work. And she ‘shows up hours early’ for flights rather than the plane leaving when she arrives.
SPOTTED: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen – 19th row, briefing materials in hand – en route to Michigan for an economic speech today in Dearborn at the @Ford Rogue Electric Vehicle Center pic.twitter.com/ZX6ARUXPCh
— Kristin Brown (@kristincbrown) September 8, 2022
Coach travel for the Fed chair and Treasury Secretary is performative. You don’t want their time wasted or the added stress of commercial distracting them from doing the best job possible. You don’t want them more tired than necessary when every word moves markets. Here Powell flies in the morning before his speech.
Now, the last drug czar lost his mind over flying Southwest. If you’re the drug czar, though, surely part of your job should be flying Spirit.
If he can hold firm through May 2026, we’d all be better off. Folks, 3-4% is not unreasonable. Way too much uncertainty with tariffs and the AI-hype these days. Good luck out there!
We need a Maga person in charge.
Lisa Cook is the mortgage fraud person, from what I understand.
I have mixed feelings about some of the Fed issues right now, but Powell should have come out and done a trivial 25 basis point cut last week; he put himself in the position of siding with data that may not even be accurate.
Now, some of the others on the fed board are saying they may not do any cuts the rest of the year, and that has impacted the markets today, I’m sure.
As far as flying commercial, I think that is fine for a public servant. Most private business people do it. I would argue that they would be more productive if they flew in business class or on a private aircraft, but who wouldn’t be? Maybe the issue isn’t flying economy, but that economy is too cramped for anyone.
@DaninMCI
She’s also a clearly a dei hire that was chosen for obvious reasons.
If you want to be a “public servant” than fly with the peasants. Otherwise take a big corporate job where you can get private in your employment contract. As far as interest rates, it’s like putting a band aid on a gunshot. The economy is wobbly because people and government entities are deep ass into debt. The credit cards are maxed, car payments of $1K plus, buy now/pay later schemes. It’s all going to fecal matter. But what I find is that often people making very nice six figure salaries (like some here) have no clue to how many Americans are living.
George gets it. Mostly.
Public servants should not be flying private or government jets.
As for interest rates and the economy, we all keep hearing that the bottom will fall out but it is not. In fact, Walmart reported pretty strong results today; despite saying it is absorbing some tariffs, it is also reducing prices on thousands of items, something it could not do if input costs were out of control.
The US and EU are reportedly inching closer to a final deal and Boeing’s best salesman who lives in the White House is reporting working on a massive 500 aircraft order by China, amends for all of the cheap stuff that China sends to the US – and which help lower income consumers.
The bottom is not falling out and, maybe, just maybe, tariff revenues will help reduce the US debt and Powell will be able to reduce rates based on strong economic fundamentals.
Let’s see the bill for the accommodations while in Jackson Hole.
@Tim Dunn “Public servants should not be flying private or government jets.”
Air Force One? Air Force Two?
SecDef?
@Tim Dunn — I’m an American, so I still root for things to go well for us all; those fears of a tariff-induced recession are still valid, albeit so far delayed, thankfully. When you add 10-15-50% import taxes and no new domestic manufacturing arises, it’s gonna raise costs on most people and businesses. So, as always, time will tell!
@DanInMCI — While no one condones actual mortgage fraud, changing circumstances affecting the ‘primary residence’ question on such applications is fairly common, like the concept of your ‘domicile.’ (Like, in any moment in time there is correct answer but it can change.) So, relying on that as the primary ‘impropriety’ here is really making a mountain out of a mole hill, akin to that saying someone is an ‘illegal’ because they sped one mile per hour over the speed limit (well, technically, yes, that is breaking the law… but rarely enforced, and not worthy of resigning from a job.) Objectively, this is purely a partisan attack, which, is not wise for the perceived independence of the Fed and stability of our financial system. Watch and see how the bond market reacts.
@Walter Barry — I should know better than to take you seriously, but for the sane people who also read this: Sycophants who just drop interest rates regardless of inflation for that ‘juice the economy’ feeling will be disappointed when that leads to stagflation and/or currency devaluation. However, since you’re a literal pro-Putin disinformation agent on here and elsewhere, I’d assume you’d prefer the chaos.
@Tim Dunn proving my point you have not talked to those in the society making less than $50K a year. Sure they can lead a spartan life but that’s not easy in today’s world. Particularly with kids. Do you want to tell your kid there’s no $50 for the school trip? No money for a summer camping trip? No money for a phone? No new school clothes? So the parents pull out the credit card or do an Affirm type of deal. Sure my Silent Generation parents would have told me tough, there’s no money. Luckily both of my parents had great salaries but kids I went to school with often got the “life is tough line.” It’s not that way anymore. At least for now.
Timmy, sugar, tariffs aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet — they’re a tax parade, and you’re front-row waving your red hat like it’s a float.
@George Romey — You do realize there are folks in their 20s who pay for First Class, either because they’ve done well for themselves or inherited, and likewise, there are older people living on fixed incomes who cannot afford much at all. Just saying, the ageism isn’t helpful or determinative here.
@Tim Dunn: yes, the bottom has not dropped out. But we’re driving very fast with our seatbelts unbuckled. We’re fine until we’re suddenly not.
But. DHS poser Kristi Noem put 50 million in the Coast Guard budget for her new Gulfstream jet. That’s right 50 million ( way too much) . It’s important to get the photo op painting the border wall, whilst Powell flies commercial.
@1990
Marxists, such as yourself, need to create these fantasies in your mind to lie to yourself about that fact that the world is rejecting your failed ideology.
@Maryland
Maybe if left-wing terrorists didn’t try and attack her for doing the job of protecting the borders from the hordes of 3rd world leeches both inside this country and attempting to enter it she wouldn’t need all that security.
@Tim Dunn framed the Walmart earnings news (which had nothing to do with the topic of Gary’s post) in the most MAGA-friendly possible way. Here is how the Wall Street Journal framed it in an email newsletter I receive: “Walmart feels the tariff heat: The retail giant said Thursday that its scale has allowed it to keep its tariff-related price hikes below the national average. But the shares still fell as earnings came in below Wall Street’s targets. Walmart lost 4.5% during the day – the biggest decliner in the Dow.”
Once again, Tim has cherry picked facts to try to make his point … and once again shown why five paragraphs of off-topic Tim comment barf is worthless.
To get the big picture, you always want someone with first hand mortgage fraud knowledge at the table (sarcasm).
@Maryland — Yeah for pretending to care about ‘waste, fraud, and abuse’ this administration sure does a lot of ‘waste, fraud, and abuse,’ eh?
@Walter Barry — As usual, nothing of substance, just more lies, animus, and ad hominem attacks from you.
So, my position, wanting to maintain an independent, a-political Federal Reserve is Marxist? …odd.
I’ve asked before, how much does the GRU pay you? Because, if you’re doing this for free, that’s just sad.
Wait… @Walter Barry, are you, like, under duress, trapped in a troll farm? Blink twice. We’ll send help!
I do love it when one post turns into multiple replies.
WMT said what it has to say. The stock will recover.
the economy didn’t materially change on 1/20. People that can’t make it in the current environment were not economic winners for the previous 4 years. There clearly is a large working class that barely gets by in America.
Yeah, I’d love to see the Pres fly something besides that mammoth aircraft. Jimmy Carter managed to show up on lots of DL flights.
there is a big difference between the Pres and the federal reserve governors.
One gets too much; the other probably not enough.
@Tim Dunn: You were happy to cherry-pick some facts out of a Walmart earnings release to try, and fail, to make an off-topic point, but when someone who actually knows how to read an earnings release called you on it, you just dismissed it as the company “said what it has to say.” Try again.
@Tim Dunn — Ignore @Jim’s silly comment. I’ll say, I’ve enjoyed visiting the various Presidential libraries over the years, and I do recall some photos of Jimmy featured at the Carter Center flying what appeared to be domestic (probably was Delta as he was from Georgia, and served as the governor there before); it’s a shame was forced to sell his peanut farm (clearly, we’re living in very different times today…)
Jim,
I clearly read the WMT earnings release while you tried to turn it into a political narrative which is not at all what WMT said.
WMT 2Q revenues grew 5.6% and it raised its guidance
adjusted EPS was up 1.5%
Walmart fell because it says it ate some tariff costs, not because it isn’t managing its business well. They said what they politically were supposed to say. Investors will figure it out and the stock will rebound.
and, yes, on a discussion about the economy and Powell’s impact on it, the biggest earnings release of the day is relevant.
You just don’t like that WMT is managing its business as well as it is and want to see them bleeding all kinds of red ink because of, well, it’s obvious
@Tim Dunn, after cherry picking some more figures, did you just accuse me of wanting Walmart to lose money for political reasons? After all the times you have told people to stick to the facts?
You almost got it. “Walmart fall because it says it ate some tariff costs.” Think about that.
@ DaninMCI — What mortgage fraud? You mean bogus alleagations cooked up by the same people that invented the Big Lie?
If I were Powell, I would leave rates unchanged for the rest of my term just to piss off the orange pig. Doing otherwise is going to further inflate the AI bubble and cause much higher consumer prices. A rate cut is wholly unnecessary at the present time. Rate cuts should be implemented after the AI bubble bursts.
@ Tim, etc al — You guys act like WMT crashed. It isn’t far from its all time high. They will be just fine.
Gene and I agree. at least on his post right above this one.
I knew it would happen.
now we return to our regularly scheduled programming
I have been at Jackson Hole several times. One ski trip I drove and stayed three days. One trip I flew with a ski club, I think the flights were on Delta through Salt Lake City. That trip was three or four days. I can’t remember if I stopped there on a summer trip. I was definitely at a ski area (Grand Targhee) to the west of the continental divide because I saw a black bear rummaging through trash cans there and he or she wasn’t very far away.
I’m sure that Powell has many options to get there.
My understanding is that Secretary Buttigieg only flew the private FAA planes if the overall cost for him and the folks traveling with him was equal to or less than the cost of commercial travel for everyone, or if the travel schedule was so tight or complicated that doing it by commercial airlines would have taken a lot longer or not have worked.
That said…it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me for cabinet secretaries to fly a private government-owned aircraft. Their time is valuable.
@jns — I’ve done that drive from SLC, but only in summer/fall, winter it’s a bit more treacherous (and people speed like crazy on I-15); whereas, the Jackson Hole airport (JAC) is tiny and flights there are expensive (reminds me a little of EGE, ASE and other unique mountain airports like those). DL regularly flies from SLC, UA from DEN, and AA from DFW; then there’s a bunch of seasonal routes, from as far away as EWR, ORD, CLT. And, for accommodations, if you or a Fed chair is looking to spend a small fortune, Amangani is nearby, but it’s currently closed for renovations; the Four Seasons should do just fine, too.
The whole “Fed Chief Flying Commercial” headline belies a huge problem with government policy. If there’s genuine consensus that “government should be run like a business”, which has been the mantra of certain politicians for some time, then that applies to staffing as well. Those same advocates of running government like a business are also huge proponents of slashing the pay and benefits of government workers, then wondering why government workers aren’t as good/competent/excited/empowered/efficient as their counterparts in the private sector. The whole notion of government employees in roles that would be “senior executive” level roles in the private sector doing things like flying economy is optics, not economics. There’s no reason to do this except for to make a spectacle of how “not wasteful” the government is being, while in reality it’s probably more wasteful.
Malthius,
the “wasteful” comment would only apply if you believe that people like Powell are not best-in-class. Regardless of the current Washington conflict, there is plenty of evidence that the Fed is well-respected around the world and is managing economic uncertainties. It is precisely the administration – on both sides of the aisle – that have thrown the Fed into positions where they have had to bail out administrations that were not in the US economies best economic issues – or at least the impact of those issues are not known.
@1990, I had driven from Sun Valley the first time skiing at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. I slept in my car in the parking lot for three nights with it hitting 25 below zero each night. I was prepared and slept soundly and warmly (three sleeping bags – getting out in the morning was bracing). I left in the afternoon after the third day of skiing (-8 F) and drove west over the pass into Idaho. It was 39 below over there so I drove further to where it wasn’t as cold and got a motel room. The next day was driving to Salt Lake City. Snow was falling heavily as I approached and about 6 inches were on the road so I chained up and continued. Almost no traffic, just a few big trucks and me. I skied Snowbird the next day. The adventures of youth with a lot of drive but only a little money.
The parking lot was at bottom of the mountain at Teton Village. There was a cafeteria nearby to eat breakfast in. It doesn’t look the same on Google Street View now.