Williams Cagey About Possibly Being Nominated as Federal Reserve Vice-Chairman

San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams on Friday did not comment on reports Thursday that he is under consideration by the White House to be the Fed Board’s vice-chairman.

“I‘m not going to comment on that at all,” he told reporters after an event at the Fed’s headquarters. “This is a decision the president of the United States makes. I am not going to speculate on what will happen there.” Asked if he had met the president, he said, “I’ll just leave it at that.”

The position of vice-chairman is likely to be a very important position when it comes to monetary policy since the nominee to be Fed chair, Jay Powell, does not have a background in economics or monetary theory.

Williams should be considered an aggressive money printing advocate who holds the view that the Fed's target price inflation rate should be adjusted in a fashion that would cause the Fed to target an even higher price-inflation rate before putting on the brakes.

(Reuters)