Treasury Secretary's Evasion on Fed Governance Sparks Accountability Crisis, Eroding Institutional Credibility

In a critical oversight hearing before the House Committee, Treasury Secretary Bessent's refusal to clarify presidential authority over Federal Reserve board dismissals has exposed a profound governance vacuum at the nation's central bank. This calculated ambiguity—coming amid heightened scrutiny of the Fed's pandemic-era policies and inflation management failures—signals a dangerous erosion of institutional accountability mechanisms. The Secretary's non-answer effectively shields Fed leadership from executive branch oversight while undermining congressional authority, creating a regulatory black hole where monetary policymakers operate with diminishing public legitimacy. This development represents more than procedural evasion; it crystallizes a systemic crisis where unelected technocrats wield unprecedented economic influence without corresponding checks. The Fed's already-fragile public trust—battered by forecasting errors and perceived elitism—now faces existential jeopardy as governance questions remain deliberately unresolved. This institutional paralysis threatens not only monetary policy credibility but democratic oversight principles, suggesting central banking may have entered an era where operational independence has metastasized into unaccountable autonomy. The silence speaks volumes: when senior officials won't address basic governance questions, the institution's democratic foundations are already compromised.