Secretary of State Clinton picked an odd battle to fight today. Speaking to her travelling press core, she criticized Donald Trump for questioning the Federal Reserve: “You should not be commenting on Fed actions when you are either running for president or you are president.”

That’s a ridiculous argument because all the monetary powers of our government belong to the Congress, to whom they were granted by the Constitution, and nowhere in the Constitution does it say that even a president, much less a candidate, can’t comment on monetary policy.

The fact is that given the importance of the issue, it would make more sense for her to have said that she too would comment on Fed actions precisely because she is running for president. Voters need to know.

Mr. Trump had simply said of the Fed: “They’re keeping the rates down so that everything else doesn’t go down. We have a very false economy… The only thing that is strong is the artificial stock market.”

Everyone who is in touch knows that Mr. Trump is right on this. The Fed has been propping up the stock market, creating a false economy. It gets worse. The Fed has been aggressively propping up the government’s budget with low rates, materially altering the fiscal deficit at the cost of exposing taxpayers to more interest expense in the future.

For over seven years, Americans have earned practically nothing on their savings accounts. For many senior citizens, that’s meant downsizing their retirement plans. Meanwhile, the Fed has been helping large borrowers get huge loans at artificially low interest rates. Large corporations have often used the largess just to buy back their own stock or pay dividends rather than hire anyone.

Presidents, moreover, have been commenting on monetary policy for years. And rarely in our republic’s history have we needed a robust debate on proper monetary policy more than we do now.

The Fed is paying banks $12 billion a year in interest and owns $4.5 trillion in government bonds. Outrageous. Chairman Yellen used her August 26 Jackson Hole speech to suggest that the Fed might buy a broader range of assets than its current mixture. She cited no congressional authorization, no appropriation. Indefensible.

The Fed’s policies have been helping the rich while the country goes downhill. They should be debated. The policies may be popular with Mrs. Clinton, Wall Street, and the beltway establishment, but they’ve left the economy stalled, with youth unemployment at 11.6% and many inner cities crumbling. It’s high time to talk about monetary policy.

Mr. Malpass is president of Encima Global LLC. He is economic advisor to the Trump campaign.