THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary- November 6, 2017- Topic 2

Change, yet continuity: on Jerome Powell's nomination as US Fed Chief

President Donald Trump’s decision to name Federal Reserve Board Governor Jerome Powell as his pick to head the central bank signals that the businessman-turned-politician has plumped for continuity even as he ushers in change. For a President whose first nine months in office have been marked by a succession of signature appointments to key posts ranging from a Supreme Court Justice to heads of federal regulatory bodies, the choice of the 64-year-old lawyer and former investment banker suggests that Mr. Trump’s business instincts won. 

Mr. Powell, who was appointed by President Barack Obama as Fed Governor in 2012 and worked alongside the incumbent Chair, Janet Yellen, over the past five years, will represent policy continuity in the monetary management of the world’s largest economy. After all, with the economic engine ticking over nicely and creating jobs, and the markets buoyant, there was little reason for Mr. Trump to run the risk of choosing someone who may have altered the calibrated approach the Fed has adopted in overseeing the recovery from the global financial crisis. Two of the other short-listed probables — Kevin Warsh and John Taylor — had both been critics of the Fed’s actions. That Mr. Powell had served in the Treasury Department during the George H.W. Bush administration means that he will, in all likelihood, receive bipartisan backing in the Senate.

Emerging markets, including India, can heave a small sigh of relief with Mr. Trump’s choice, given the influence the Fed’s interest rate decisions have on global capital flows. Delivering a lecture on ‘Prospects for Emerging Market Economies in a Normalising Global Economy’ last month, Mr. Powell acknowledged the challenges these economies faced as a result of the ‘normalisation’ of global financial conditions — shorthand for the slow but sure reining in of the easy money conditions that had undergirded policy responses to the financial crisis. And crucially, he stressed that “the best thing the Federal Reserve can do — not just for the United States, but for the global economy at large — is to keep our house in order through the continued pursuit of our dual mandate” of fostering economic conditions that achieve both stable prices and maximum sustainable employment. But it is not only the stability aspect that won Mr. Powell the nod. A former Carlyle Group partner with a stated keenness to adopt a light-touch approach to regulation, he is expected to be closely aligned to Mr. Trump’s positions on easing regulatory oversight of big banks and financial markets. And with other top positions at the central bank to be filled by the President soon, Mr. Powell could end up overseeing a Fed that reflects Mr. Trump’s political leanings as well.

Vocabulary

Plump: set down heavily or unceremoniously.

Example: She plumped her bag on the table

Usher: show or guide someone somewhere.

Example: A waiter ushered me to a table

Synonyms: escort, accompany, take, show, see, lead, conduct, guide

Succession: the action or process of inheriting a title, office, property, etc..

Example: The new king was already elderly at the time of his succession

Synonyms: accession, elevation, assumption

Instinct: an innate, typically fixed pattern of behavior in animals in response to certain stimuli.

Example: Birds have an instinct to build nests

Incumbent: necessary for someone as a duty or responsibility.

Example: It is incumbent on all decent people to concentrate on destroying this evil

Synonyms: necessary for one to, essential that, required that, imperative that

Buoyant: cheerful and optimistic.

Example: The conference ended with the party in a buoyant mood

Synonyms: cheerful, cheery, happy, lighthearted, carefree, bright

Alter: change or cause to change in character or composition, typically in a comparatively small but significant way.

Example: Eliot was persuaded to alter the passage

Synonyms: change, make changes to, make different, make alterations to

Calibrate: mark a gauge or instrument with a standard scale of readings.

Example: The model was calibrated on the basis of the similar experimental results

Rein: check or guide by pulling on its reins.

Example: He reined in his horse and waited for her

Foster: encourage or promote the development of something, typically something regarded as good.

Example: The teacher's task is to foster learning

Synonyms: encourage, promote, further, stimulate, advance, forward

Oversight: an unintentional failure to notice or do something.

Example: He said his failure to pay for the tickets was an oversight

Synonyms: mistake, error, omission, lapse, slip, blunder, slip-up