During Monday night’s debate Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump accused Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen of being political.
The candidate claimed that by keeping interest rates at the same level, she is “doing political things” and “being more political than Secretary Clinton.” Fortune and TIME editors got together to discuss this claim and determine whether or not they think there is any truth to it.
On one hand, they admit that the Federal Reserve has always been political to a certain extent, and it has always clashed with politicians. But ultimately the nation’s central bank has to do what is best for the economy. And right now, that means keeping interest rates where they are, otherwise a shift might interfere with key economic drivers, like wage growth.
At the very least, our editors said, the Fed should do more to reduce the appearance of being political, especially during an election year. Watch the whole discussion above.
