Kevin Warsh, former governor of the US Federal Reserve, speaks with CNBC on July 17, 2025.CNBCIn his first stint at the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh came to a central bank that was about to be asked to save the world. He returns now under very different circumstances, asked to serve a notoriously fickle president who will place significant but very different demands on him.Warsh indeed is a Fed veteran, serving during the critical period of 2006 to 2011 that led up to and ultimately through the global financial crisis and the central bank’s efforts to stabilize the economy. Appointed by President George W. Bush, Warsh was one of the youngest members ever to serve on the Board of Governors.While at the Fed, Warsh played an important role in the design and implementation of emergency lending programs aimed at stabilizing credit markets. Warsh also played a key role in helping devise the myriad programs aimed at rescuing the economy. One of those programs, developed separately at the Treasury Department, became known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, developed by Neel Kashkari, who is now the Minneapolis Fed president.However, Warsh emerged from the era as a Fed critic. He warned that large-scale asset purchases and near-zero benchmark interest rates ran the risk of distorting markets and undermining long-term price stability. While supporting the earlier efforts, Warsh voted against the second round of Fed bond-buying, a program known as quantitative easing.’Central casting’Warsh has further criticized the post-financial crisis Fed with going too far in monetary policy stimulus, arguing that it is helping sow the sees for further crises. I …
