He made four main points. First, Fed independence applies only to monetary policy, not “regulatory policy, consumer protection or other responsibilities granted to the Federal Reserve”. Second, the “Fed, as first-responder, must strongly resist the temptation to be the ultimate rescuer”. Third, “governments may be tempted to influence the central bank to keep monetary policy looser longer to finance the debt and stimulate activity”. But the “only popularity central bankers should seek, if at all, is in the history books”. Last, “central banks, here and abroad, have worked for decades to get inflation down to levels consistent with price stability. We should not risk these hard-won gains.”