From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media's midweek podcast. I'm Brooke Gladstone. We let last week's show with an interview I did with Mark Bly, the professor of international economics and public affairs at Brown University. What you're about to hear is a much extended version, because we really got into it.

We were discussing the potential impact of the president's attacks on the chairman of the Fed.

Actually, kind of fun.

This morning, federal prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve

Chairman Jerome Powell related to his testimony before a Senate

committee about the multi-billion dollar renovation of two Federal Reserve buildings.

Powell, not famously a hothead fired back at the administration and a two-minute-long video message.

The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest

rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the

preferences of the president. There's been a lot of hand-wringing about the independence of the Fed,

an institution which has traditionally been outside of the political fray.

If for political reasons, they lower interest rates to appease the present, there's going to be

no end to that. Future Democrats could do the same thing. That's bad.

As Mervyn King, who used to be the head of the Bank of England, puts it,

you don't want an inflation nutter in charge of the government.

Mark Blythe is a professor of international economics and public affairs at Brown University.

Someone who will drop rates, that will make credit really cheap.

Everyone will go have a party.

There isn't enough stuff.

The price of stuff will go up.

You'll get inflation, right?

That's what they're worried about, okay?

...