The Federal Reserve is in the middle of a jaw-dropping $2.5 billion renovation of its Washington, D.C., headquarters.
That’s $600 million more than the original $1.9 billion estimate.
It’s also more than the cost of some of the most iconic American landmarks and histroic projects.
Consider this: The Pentagon cost $83 million in 1943 — about $1.5 billion in today’s dollars.
Apple’s spaceship-like Cupertino, California, headquarters? That came in at around $1.2 billion in 2017.
The Dallas Cowboys’ extravagant AT&T Stadium? $1.3 billion in 2009.
And yet, somehow, the Fed’s beige marble fortress, dubbed the “Palace of Versailles” by the New York Post, is more expensive. Let that sink in.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his allies have tried to soothe public concern by insisting the project is “not taxpayer-funded.”
They argue that the Fed finances such projects through revenue from its own balance sheet, not from congressional appropriations.
Should Jerome Powell finally be replaced?
But that’s a half-truth at best.
As Reuters and Barron’s each reported, the Fed has not been turning over profits to the U.S. Treasury since 2022.
That’s because the Fed is running operating deficits.
Thanks to its own interest rate policy, the central bank now pays more in interest to banks than it earns from its assets.
Which means every dollar it spends — including on a gold-plated headquarters remodel — directly reduces the revenue that would otherwise go to the federal government.
That’s money that must now be replaced through borrowing or higher taxes.
In other words, the American people foot the bill, just not through the front door.
This is not fiscal stewardship. The Fed’s job is to stabilize prices and protect the economy, not play palace decorator while Americans struggle to afford groceries. This kind of spending, at this moment, is a slap in the face.
Powell’s smug dismissal of accountability and ballooning costs shows just how far removed the Fed is from the people it affects. It’s not just tone-deaf, it’s a breach of public trust.
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