Real estate mogul and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Janet Yellen, who chairs the Federal Reserve, is keeping interest rates low for political reasons and that the Obama administration doesn’t want to risk triggering a possible recession before the president leaves office.
“Keeping these interest rates at this level … this is a political thing. When they get raised, perhaps with the next president, you’re going to see some bad things happen,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that aired Friday.
Asked if Ms. Yellen is “failing,” Mr. Trump said: “I don’t know if she’s failing, but I think she’s a very political person, because everybody says she should raise the interest rates.”
“Now she’s always been known as a dove on interest rates, but what she’s doing — and I’m sure that with the blessing of the president, because he doesn’t want to have a recession or worse in his administration,” he said. “So she’s keeping interest rates low.”
“Get him out of here, let him go to my golf courses. … I’m sure he’ll be playing, ’cause I have the best golf courses, by the way, and I have the best one in Washington,” Mr. Trump said. “But he’s going to go play golf, and someone’s going to suffer.”
Mr. Trump said from his standpoint as a developer, he’s not complaining.
“I’m just saying at some point, you have to raise interest rates — you pay nothing,” he said.
Mr. Trump said he doesn’t think it’s too late, “but I think you’re going to have to do something.”
“They are trying to put the recession, which could be a beauty, into the next administration, and that’s not fair,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.