[Compared To Trump's 2016 Election Victory, The Fed Under Powell's Leadership Has Shown Surprising Caution] Federal Reserve Chairman Powell Said He Wanted To Wait And See What Policies The Incoming Trump Administration Would Implement Before The Fed Predicted What That Would Mean For The Economy. "There Is Nothing To Simulate Now," Powell Said At A Press Conference On November 7. "We Don't Guess, We Don't Speculate, We Don't Assume." However, This Is Very Different From The Fed's Response To Trump's Victory In The 2016 Election, As Confirmed By The Transcript Of The Fed's Meeting At The Time. A Month Before Trump Took Office, Fed Staff Began Predicting That Fiscal Policy Was Expected To Boost Economic Growth Based On The Assumption That Trump's Promised Tax Cuts Would Be Passed, And That This Growth Would Be Offset To Some Extent By Rising Interest Rates. And At The Time, Several Fed Policymakers, Including Powell, Also Included Fiscal Policy Changes In Their Forecasts. "It Looks Like There May Be A More Relaxed Fiscal Policy In 2017," Powell, Then A Member Of The Federal Reserve Board, Commented When He Presented The Forecast At The Federal Open Market Committee's December 2016 Meeting. "So I Followed The Staff's Baseline Assumption, Assuming A Personal Income Tax Cut Equivalent To 1% Of GDP." (Bloomberg)