Inflation Is A Choice: Kevin Warsh on Fixing the Federal Reserve | Uncommon Knowledge | Peter Robinson | Hoover Institution

Uncommon Knowledge

Hoover Institution

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4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 8 July 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

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Summary

Has the Fed lost its way? Hoover Visiting Fellow Kevin Warsh thinks it has and offers solutions on how to fix it. Kevin Warsh is the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, a partner at Duquesne Family Office LLC, the investment firm of Stanley Druckenmiller, a former governor at the Federal Reserve, and on the short list of candidates to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. In this conversation, Warsh offers a candid, in-depth critique of the US central bank’s recent performance. Drawing on his firsthand experience during the 2008 financial crisis and his continuing work as a macro investor and Hoover Institution fellow, Warsh argues that the Fed has strayed from its core mandate of price stability. He discusses the dangers of inflation, the legacy of quantitative easing, and the institution’s growing entanglement with fiscal policy. Along the way, Warsh revisits the insights of Milton Friedman, Paul Volcker, and Alan Greenspan, warns against institutional complacency, and outlines a vision of reform—not revolution—for the Fed. Despite the turbulence, Warsh remains bullish on America’s economic future, driven by innovation, productivity, and the enduring dynamism of its people. Recorded on May 28, 2025.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Federal Reserve System charged for more than a century and now with maintaining price stability, with fighting inflation.
0:08.0	How's the Fed doing?
0:10.0	Our guest today is here to say, not as well as it should be.
0:15.0	Kevin Warsh on Uncommon Knowledge Now.
0:29.6	Welcome to Uncommon Knowledge. A native of upstate New York, Kevin Warsh earned his undergraduate degree at Stanford and his law degree at Harvard.
0:36.6	Mr. Warsh spent the early years of his
0:38.4	career on Wall Street and in Washington. In 2006, President George W. Bush appointed him to the
0:45.0	Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, where he served until 2011. Note that Mr. Warsh was
0:51.5	on the Fed during the financial crisis of 2008, the worst financial
0:56.2	crisis in more than half a century.
0:59.2	Mr. Warsh now divides his time between New York, where he works in an investment firm,
1:04.3	and Stanford, where he is a fellow here at the Hoover Institution.
1:08.2	Kevin, welcome back to Uncommon Knowledge.
1:09.7	It's great to be back. You hid the most important thing, which is the investment firm
1:14.9	I happen to work for the greatest investor in the history of the world, a guy named
1:18.6	Stan Drucken Miller, but you were trying to keep that discreet. I appreciate that. I just wanted
1:22.8	to boast about my friend and partner.
1:24.8	You keep going because I want him to appear on the show sooner or later.
1:27.5	We'll start buttering him up right now.
1:29.5	All right, Kevin, here's the first question.
1:33.8	Created a century and a decade ago, the Federal Reserve is the one institution in the nation
1:37.9	charged with maintaining the value of our currency the dollar.
	...

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