17-07-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The ‘Fed Mahal' Is an Act of Central-Bank Self-Sabotage
The Trump administration has stumbled into an effective line of attack against one of its favorite antagonists—but in service of the wrong goal. I speak of the latest assault on the Federal Reserve over a palatial headquarters building.
Go ahead and call the project the Fed Mahal. The central bank is spending somewhere between $2.5 billion and $3 billion to renovate its office complex in Washington. The project is, by all accounts, ridiculous. There's some question about what is actually being built, but the zoning application included glass-enclosed atria, a subterranean concourse connecting the structures, a new underground parking lot, and 'executive' dining facilities. All reportedly encased in high-end marble.
