You forgot to provide the cite, Chris - I'd like to see what you're referring to.
I disagree about his reason for pushing hard for lower rates now. In the first place, lowering the rate NOW is not going to boost the economy - the Fed typically lowers the rate when we're in a recession and raises it when the economy is heating up. Remember, they have two major functions: controlling employment and controlling inflation through monetary policy. Inflation is relatively low now; lowering the rate will lead to increased spending, which will lead to increased inflation. Secondly, the Fed never moves the rate by a full point unless there's a good reason to do so.
On the other hand, lowering the rate like that will benefit him personally. Trump had a hissy fit when Powell didn't announce a rate cut on Friday, but as I said in the OP, there was no way that was going to happen - the speech was at a conference in Wyoming, not at a Fed meeting, and Powell has no authority to cut the rate unilaterally. So why was Trump so anxious to get the rate cut?
Occam's razor - the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. |
