Judy Lynn Shelton is an American economic advisor to President Donald Trump. She is known for her advocacy for a return to the gold standard and for her criticisms of the Federal Reserve. Trump announced on July 2, 2019, that he would nominate Shelton to the Fed, and her nomination is currently pending in the Senate.
She worked at the Hoover Institution from 1985 to 1995. She was on Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign. In 2016, she was on the Ben Carson presidential campaign, but joined the Trump campaign in August 2016 after writing a supportive Wall Street Journal opinion editorial about Trump. In 2012, Judy Shelton joined TheGoldStandardNow.Org as a senior advisor. Prior to joining the Trump administration, she was the director of the Sound Money Project at the Atlas Network. In a video interview with The Atlas Network she described currency counterfeiter Bernard von NotHaus as "the Rosa Parks of monetary policy." She has donated to conservative candidates and causes. In 2000, she advocated for open borders with Mexico. In March 2018, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the United States director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Wall Street Journal reports that she was absent for 12 of 28 board meetings during her tenure.
Views on monetary policy
Shelton is known as a critic of the Federal Reserve. She said in 2011 that the Federal Reserve is "almost a rogue agency," and asked whether it could be trusted in having oversight of the dollar. "She has called for a 0% inflation target, contradicting the bank's current 2% target. She has written that a "fundamental question" of economics is "why do we need a central bank?" Shelton has criticized the Federal Reserve's longstanding policy of independence from the White House, saying in 2019 interview that she saw "no reference to independence" in the Fed's authorizing legislation. Shelton describes herself as "highly skeptical" of the Federal Reserve's "nebulous" dual mandate of maximum employment and price stability. During the Obama years, she criticized the Federal Reserve's low interest rates. During the Trump presidency, she advocated for the Federal Reserve to adopt lower interest rates as a form of economic stimulus. She supports the Republican Party's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and the Trump administration's deregulative agenda. Before Trump became president, she was a longtime advocate for free trade, but after he became president, she supported his administration's trade war with China. Shelton opposes federal deposit insurance. In her 1994 book "Money Meltdown," she writes that "Eliminating federal deposit insurance would restore the essential character of banking as a vehicle for channeling financial capital into productive investment while striving to meet the risk and timing preference of depositors. Shelton is a long-time proponent of pegging the value of the dollar to gold. In 2019, she said that she hoped for a new Bretton Woods-style conference where countries would agree to return to the gold standard, saying, "If it takes place at Mar-a-Lago that would be great." Mar-a-Lago is a club run by President Trump. Shelton supports a highly integrated financial system, including a global common currency and a universal gold reserve bank.
Nomination to Federal Reserve
On July 3, 2019, President Donald Trump used his Twitter account to announce his intention to nominate Shelton and a regional Fed official, Christopher Waller, to the Federal Reserve board. His previous nominees, former presidential contender Herman Cain and economic commentator Stephen Moore, had withdrawn for lack of Senate support. During the months in which Shelton was being considered for the post by Trump, she was a guest at the Trump International Hotel, Washington, D.C.. During her February 2020 confirmation hearings, both Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee expressed concerns about her writings and statements. On July 21, 2020, a 13-12 vote along party lines advanced Shelton’s nomination to the full Senate.
