Speaking of ESG lunacy, some good news: Fed chairman Jerome Powell says he’s not going to let climate change activism impact Fed monetary policy. Some highlights from his speech:

• • • “We should ‘stick to our knitting’ and not wander off to pursue perceived social benefits that are not tightly linked to our statutory goals and authorities.”
    • “Price stability is the bedrock of a healthy economy and provides the public with immeasurable benefits over time.”
    • “In a well-functioning democracy, important public policy decisions should be made, in almost all cases, by the elected branches of government. Grants of independence to agencies should be exceedingly rare, explicit, tightly circumscribed, and limited to those issues that clearly warrant protection from short-term political considerations.”
    • “Without explicit congressional legislation, it would be inappropriate for us to use our monetary policy or supervisory tools to promote a greener economy or to achieve other climate-based goals.  We are not, and will not be, a ‘climate policymaker.'”

This is all wonderful, but we’ll believe it when we see it.