White House press secretary Jay Carney chastised Texas Gov. Rick Perry for suggesting on the campaign trail that some economic policy decisions the Federal Reserve is considering border on “treasonous.”
Speaking at a campaign stop in Iowa on Monday, the Texas governor didn’t name Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, but he said that printing more money--or quantitative easing--amounted to playing politics and he considered such a move as “almost treacherous—or treasonous in my opinion.” Quantitative easing is an effort to lower borrowing costs and keep banks lending.
“When you’re running for president you have to think about what you’re saying, because your words have greater impact,” Carney told reporters traveling with the president in Iowa. “We take the independence of the Federal Reserve quite seriously.”