On Thursday morning, the day after the Federal Reserve voted to leave the benchmark interest rate between 4.25% and 4.5%, President Donald Trump targeted Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, calling him a “fool who doesn’t have a clue” while adding, “I like him very much!”
“‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much! Oil and Energy way down, almost all costs (groceries and ‘eggs’) down, virtually NO INFLATION, Tariff Money Pouring Into the U.S. — THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF ‘TOO LATE!’ ENJOY!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
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“Too Late” Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn’t have a clue. Other than that, I like him very much! Oil and Energy way down, almost all costs (groceries and “eggs”) down, virtually NO INFLATION, Tariff Money Pouring Into the U.S. — THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF “TOO LATE!” ENJOY!
From…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpDailyPosts/status/1920433381654909340?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Fed stated that it doesn’t want to lower interest rates until economic forecasts — which have been in the doldrums since Trump announced his tariff policy — become brighter, adding that the “risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen,” CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/08/trump-calls-fed-chair-jerome-powell-a-fool-after-central-bank-keeps-rates-steady.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“We are always going to do the same thing, which is we are going to use our tools to foster maximum employment and price stability for the benefit of the American people,” Powell — who was initially nominated to his post by Trump in November 2017, then reappointed by President Joe Biden — said. “We are always going to consider only the economic data, the outlook, the balance of risks and that’s it. That’s all we are going to consider.”
In February 2024, Trump said he would not reappoint Powell, whose term ends in May 2026, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/02/economy/trump-reappoint-fed-chair-jerome-powell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling</a> Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, “It looks to me like he’s trying to lower interest rates for the sake of maybe getting people elected, I don’t know. I think he’s going to do something to probably help the Democrats, I think, if he lowers interest rates.”
In mid-April, Powell <a href="https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/who-appoints-fed-chair-and-can-trump-fire-jerome-powell-what-to-know/3724729/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Economic Club of Chicago, &#8220;For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity&#8221; on the impact of Trump’s policy changes. Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114352766082542122">responded</a> the next day, “The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!’ Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
On Sunday, Trump <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/read-full-transcript-president-donald-trump-interviewed-meet-press-mod-rcna203514" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spoke</a> of Powell on “NBC’s “Meet The Press,&#8221; saying Powell should lower interest rates, adding, “We are at a perfect time. It’s already late. But he should lower interest rates.”
When host Kristen Welker asked if he would rule out removing Powell, Trump replied, “I get to change him very quickly anyway.”
“You don’t have plans to remove him before 2026 when his time’s up?” Welker pressed.
“No, no, no. That was a total — why would I do that? I get to replace the person in another short period of time,” Trump answered.

MixCollage-08-May-2025-11-15-AM-5067

Fed Says It Won’t Lower Interest Rates. Trump Calls Powell A ‘Fool Who Doesn’t Have A Clue.’

Donald Trump

Economy

Executive

Federal Reserve

Inflation

Interest Rates

Jerome Powell

Politics

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday voted to hold interest rates steady while Chairman Jerome Powell warned that tariffs and trade wars are creating inflationary pressures.
“If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they’re likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and an increase in unemployment,” Powell said at a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB0ZL_52K74" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news conference</a>.
Powell also said that the economic picture in the United States is unclear. He said he does not know “which way this will shake out” whether to be concerned or not about U.S. economic growth.
“It’s really not at all clear what it is we should do,” said Powell.
The Fed’s vote on Wednesday will keep interest rates at 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent, where they have remained since December after some cuts to interest rates last year.
President Donald Trump has placed tariffs on dozens of countries, focusing particularly on top U.S. trading partners Canada, China, and Mexico. The tariffs and the White House messaging around them has sent the stock market into chaos at points over the past couple of months.
 While Canada and Mexico have negotiated with the Trump administration over immigration, drug trafficking, and other issues, Beijing has ratcheted up tensions with Washington. Talks between China and the United States have not yet started, though Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday that a date had been set for U.S. officials to meet with officials from Beijing.
“I was going to be in Switzerland to negotiate with the Swiss. Turns out, the Chinese team is traveling through Europe and they will be in Switzerland also. So, we will meet on Saturday and Sunday,” the treasury secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breakthrough-trump-officials-set-date-for-direct-trade-talks-with-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
While tariff talk has spooked markets, Trump has pursued a business-friendly deregulatory agenda and promised an extension of his 2017 tax cuts.
“We are making great progress on ‘The One, Big, Beautiful Bill.’ Our Economy is doing well, but it’s going to BOOM in a way never seen before,” Trump said in a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114468755257430424" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> on Wednesday. “We are going to do NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON SENIORS’ SOCIAL SECURITY, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, and much more. It will be the biggest Tax Cut for Middle and Working Class Americans by far, and it is time for Main Street to WIN. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Fed Makes Interest Rate Decision With Inflation Concerns As Backdrop

Tariffs

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday after he called for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates – seven months after Warren told the Federal Reserve the same.
Warren appeared on CNBC on Thursday and said that Trump was risking a market “crash” after he posted on Truth Social that the Federal Reserve chairman’s “termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump has expressed frustration with the Fed chairman, Jerome Powell, in recent days over the level of the federal funds rate.
Warren said that Trump’s post was a threat to fire Powell. As an independent agency, the Federal Reserve’s chairman can only be removed by the president “for cause,” according to a 1935 Supreme Court ruling. “For cause” is typically interpreted to exclude disagreements over monetary policy.
“Understand this: if Chairman Powell can be fired by the president of the United States, it will crash the markets in the United States,” Warren said. “The infrastructure that keeps this stock market strong – and therefore a big part of our economy strong, and therefore a big part of the world economy strong – is the idea that the big pieces move independent of the politics, that somebody is making his/their/her best decisions economically and independently.”
“If interest rates in the United States are subject to a president who just wants to wave his magic wand, this doesn&#8217;t distinguish us then from any other two bit dictatorship around the world,” she added.
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ELIZABETH WARREN: &quot;IF CHAIRMAN POWELL CAN BE FIRED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, IT WILL CRASH THE MARKETS IN THE UNITED STATES.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/tuKbsvijW6">pic.twitter.com/tuKbsvijW6</a>
&mdash; The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) <a href="https://twitter.com/scottmelker/status/1913000373654077727?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 17, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Under the Biden administration, Warren, now the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, repeatedly pushed Powell to cut interest rates despite high levels of inflation. She argued that interest rates needed to come down to make housing more affordable.
In one of those letters sent in September, Warren pushed the Federal Reserve to cut the federal funds rate by “75 basis points.” “If the Fed is too cautious in cutting rates, it would needlessly risk our economy heading towards a recession,” the <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/warren_hickenlooper_whitehouse_letter_to_fed_re_september_rate_cut.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> said.
Trump on Thursday appeared to vent in a Truth Social <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114352766082542122" target="_blank" rel="noopener">post</a> about the federal funds rate, which is set by the Federal Open Market Committee and influences other interest rates. The president suggested that Powell was acting late to cut rates as the European Central Bank prepares to cut its own interest rates.
“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!’ Trump posted. “Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS.”
“Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!” Trump wrote.

Elizabeth Warren

Liz Warren Blasts Trump For Asking Fed To Lower Rates. Here’s What She Said When Biden Was President

Joe Biden

President Donald Trump on Thursday called for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to cut interest rates, saying that his termination couldn&#8217;t come &#8220;fast enough.&#8221;
Trump’s call on Truth Social comes a day after Powell delivered remarks critical of the president at the Economic Club of Chicago. Trump contrasted Powell’s handling of interest rates with the European Central Bank (ECB), which announced interest rate cuts on Thursday. 
“The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, ‘Too Late’ Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete ‘mess!’ Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS,” Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114352766082542122" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on his social media network. “Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”
Trump has <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114280322706682564">repeatedly</a> called for Powell to cut interest rates, saying that the Fed chair was “playing politics” with the economy earlier this month. 
On Wednesday, Powell <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o_9kO0zZQg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that he believed Trump’s tariffs would cause inflation. Trump has imposed a baseline 10% tariff on most American trading partners, a 145% tariff on Chinese goods, and select tariffs on other products, such as automobiles. 
“Tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation,&#8221; Powell said. &#8220;The inflationary effects could also be more persistent. Avoiding that outcome will depend on the size of the effects, on how long it takes for them to pass through fully to prices, and, ultimately, on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored.&#8221; 
Powell added that he was waiting “for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance.”
“We’re always going to be aiming for maximum employment and price stability,&#8221; he said. “I do think we’ll be moving away from those goals for the balance of this year, or at least not making any progress, and then we’ll resume that progress as we can.”
Trump has said that the tariffs are generating billions in revenue for the federal government and are necessary to get more favorable trade deals for the United States. On Thursday, he <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114353201227355474" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that “every nation” wants to meet over the tariffs, including China. The president and his staff met with Japan on Wednesday and are expected to meet with Italy on Thursday to discuss the tariffs. 
Powell&#8217;s post as chair of the Fed runs through May 2026. He previously <a href="https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/11/07/congress/feds-powell-says-trump-cant-fire-him-00188311" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that it would be unlawful for Trump to remove him.

President Trump Announces Nominee For Federal Reserve Chair Of The Board Of Governors

Trump Attacks Fed Chair Jerome Powell: ‘Termination Cannot Come Fast Enough’

Inflation cooled faster than economists’ expectations in the month of March, though the impacts of tariffs could still mitigate those gains.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), an estimate of the price of all household consumer goods and services, <a href="https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/cpi-report-inflation-data-march" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rose</a> by 2.4% year-over-year in March, beating economists’ expectations of a 2.6% increase, though still higher than the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2%. Core CPI, a measure of CPI excluding more volatile food and fuel prices, rose 2.8% year-over-year, less than the predicted 3%.
While inflation is cooling, Federal Reserve officials and experts have signaled that interest rate cuts might not happen in the near term. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday that President Donald Trump’s fast-moving trade policies should be given some time before the Fed looks at interest rate adjustments either way.
Mohamed El-Erian, president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and chief economic adviser at Allianz SE, made a similar comment Thursday morning on X, noting the positive inflation signs might not immediately impact interest rates.
“US CPI inflation for March was better (lower) than the consensus forecasts — across the board. The monthly price changes came in at -0.1% for headline and 0.1% for core. This took the annual measures down to 2.4% and 2.8%, respectively — low levels not seen for several years,” El-Erian said.
“The forward-looking information content of these numbers is heavily influenced by how you think all the news on tariffs will impact price/wage-setting behavior, as well as household/corporate impact on aggregate demand,” he added.
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US CPI inflation for March was better (lower) than the consensus forecasts — across the board. The monthly price changes came in at -0.1% for headline and 0.1% for core. This took the annual measures down to 2.4% and 2.8%, respectively — low levels not seen for several years.… <a href="https://t.co/xDeYFZ8y0W">https://t.co/xDeYFZ8y0W</a>
&mdash; Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) <a href="https://twitter.com/elerianm/status/1910313276660916421?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari wrote in an <a href="https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2025/potential-implications-of-announced-tariffs-for-monetary-policy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">essay</a> Wednesday morning – before the inflation report or Trump’s 90-day pause on most tariffs on most countries was announced – that interest rates should stay the same until tariffs have more time to take effect.
“In my view, the hurdle to change the federal funds rate one way or the other has increased due to the tariffs. Given the paramount importance of keeping long-run inflation expectations anchored and the likely boost to near-term inflation from tariffs, the bar for cutting rates even in the face of a weakening economy and potentially increased unemployment is higher,” Kashkari wrote. “Given that we don’t yet know how many countries will respond to the tariffs and whether we are beginning a trade war with tit-for-tat tariff increases, the risk of unanchoring inflation expectations seems to have increased notably.”

Inflation Cools Faster Than Expected In March: ‘Low Levels Not Seen For Several Years’

consumer Price Index

In another sign of the success of the Trump administration, the inflation rate for February came in lower than economists had predicted, with core consumer prices dropping to their lowest level in nearly four years.
“The annual core consumer price inflation rate in the United States, which excludes items such as food and energy, eased to 3.1% in February 2025, from 3.3% in the prior month and below market expectations of 3.2%. It is the lowest figure since April 2021,” Trading Economics <a href="https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/core-inflation-rate" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“Today’s CPI report shows inflation is declining and the economy is moving in the right direction under President Trump. Core consumer prices, which is the best measure of inflation, dropped to its lowest level in FOUR years. This inflation report, much like last week’s jobs report, is far better than the media predicted and the so-called ‘experts’ expected,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/03/winning-inflation-eases-as-job-creation-soars-and-border-security-pays-off/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">celebrated</a> on Wednesday morning.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) at the Labor Department, the consumer price index only rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2%, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.8%. The Federal Reserve has a goal of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03/12/business/trump-tariffs-steel-aluminum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reducing</a> inflation to 2.0%. BLS also reported that inflation-adjusted average hourly earnings rose 0.1% in February, up 1.2% from one year ago.
“Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 0.3% increases on both headline and core, with respective annual rates of 2.9% and 3.2%, meaning that all of the rates were 0.1 percentage point less than expected,” CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/12/cpi-inflation-report-february-2025.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
“A deceleration in airfares and gas prices helped drive February’s cooldown,” Barron’s <a href="https://www.barrons.com/livecoverage/cpi-report-inflation-data-february" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>. The slowing of inflation might cause Federal Reserve officials to consider rate cuts. “The Fed plays closer attention to a separate gauge that analysts said could show firmer price pressures in February. That reading won&#8217;t appear until later this month, but a third inflation series due Thursday will tell officials where their preferred measure is likely to stand,” The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/cpi-report-today-inflation-stock-market-03-12-2025/card/what-the-february-inflation-report-means-for-the-fed-V7gk6Avq1zLyk5Cu2Y2V">noted</a>. The current policy rate from the Fed rests between 4.25%-4.50%.
“The February CPI release showed further signs of progress on underlying inflation, with the pace of price increases moderating after January’s strong release,” Kay Haigh of Goldman Sachs Asset Management reacted. “While the Fed is still likely to remain on hold at this month’s meeting, the combination of easing inflationary pressures and rising downside risks to growth suggest that the Fed is moving closer to continuing its easing cycle.”
“A lot of this inflation data does not incorporate what is to come and what already has happened for tariffs,” Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab, warned. “The vagaries and uncertainties associated with policy are still a much stronger force in the market than anything CPI-related or in terms of one data point.”
Egg prices rose 10.4% in February, but the Trump administration is addressing that problem; in February, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins <a href="https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/02/26/usda-invests-1-billion-combat-avian-flu-and-reduce-egg-prices" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a $1 billion comprehensive strategy to prevent avian influenza (HPAI) and protect the U.S. poultry industry.
“The Biden administration did little to address the repeated outbreaks and high egg prices that followed. By contrast, the Trump administration is taking the issue seriously,” Secretary Rollins stated. “American farmers need relief, and American consumers need affordable food. To every family struggling to buy eggs: We hear you, we’re fighting for you, and help is on the way.”

President Trump Establishes White House Task Force for 2026 World Cup

More Trump Success: Core Consumer Prices Dip To Lowest Level In Almost 4 Years As Inflation Eases

eggs

Trump Administration

Russell Vought gutted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on Saturday, one day after President Donald Trump tapped him to serve as the agency’s acting director.
The Senate confirmed Vought to serve as the next head of the Office of Management and Budget on Thursday night before he was tapped to also lead CFPB on Friday. One of Vought’s first acts at the CFPB was to issue a broad freeze of operations, including on new rules, guidance, investigations, and stakeholder communication.
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News: In Saturday night email obtained by RealClearPolitics, acting CFPB Director Russ Vought directs Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staff to issue no new rules, suspend effective dates of all final rules, and cease any new investigations: <a href="https://t.co/TIeSjr0mMq">pic.twitter.com/TIeSjr0mMq</a>
&mdash; Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilipWegmann/status/1888409309937070128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The Department of Government Efficiency, a team led by Elon Musk aimed at cutting government excess and honing operations toward Trump’s agenda, has targeted CFPB. Musk <a href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1887979940269666769">posted</a> to X on Friday the message “CFPB RIP” with an emoji of a tombstone.
In addition to freezing its operations, Vought also cut off funding for the agency. The CFPB operates in a unique position relative to most of the government. Created under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the CFPB is funded directly from the Federal Reserve outside of the normal Congressional appropriations process.
“Pursuant to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, I have notified the Federal Reserve that CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not ‘reasonably necessary’ to carry out its duties,” Vought posted to X on Saturday night. “The Bureau&#8217;s current balance of $711.6 billion is in fact excessive in the current fiscal environment. This spigot, long contributing to CFPB&#8217;s unaccountability, is now being turned off.”
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Pursuant to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, I have notified the Federal Reserve that CFPB will not be taking its next draw of unappropriated funding because it is not &quot;reasonably necessary&quot; to carry out its duties. The Bureau&#39;s current balance of $711.6 billion is in fact…
&mdash; Russ Vought (@russvought) <a href="https://twitter.com/russvought/status/1888418946455589013?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Vought’s request was made official in a letter to Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell requesting $0 in funding for the CFPB in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.
“I have determined that no additional funds are necessary to carry out the authorities of the Bureau for Fiscal Year 2025. The Bureau’s current funds are more than sufficient–and are, in fact, excessive–to carry out its authorities in a manner that is consistent with the public interest,” Vought wrote.
“In the past, the Bureau has at times opted to maintain a ‘reserve fund’ for financial contingencies. But no such fund is required by statute or necessary to fulfill the Bureau’s mandate,” he continued. “The Bureau’s new leadership will run a substantially more streamlined and efficient bureau, cut this excessive fund, and do its part to reduce the federal deficit.”
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News: In letter to FED Chairman obtained by RealClearPolitics, Trump’s acting CFPB director <a href="https://twitter.com/russvought?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RussVought</a> requests for Q3 of FY25 a grand total of… $0. <a href="https://t.co/OeCoGmenJs">pic.twitter.com/OeCoGmenJs</a>
&mdash; Philip Melanchthon Wegmann (@PhilipWegmann) <a href="https://twitter.com/PhilipWegmann/status/1888418397311959198?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 9, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Russell Vought

CFPB Gutted In Latest Trump Admin Move To Cut Government Waste

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Washington D.C.

A former senior adviser for the Federal Reserve Board of Governors (FRB) was arrested on Friday for allegedly conspiring to steal trade secrets for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/communist-china" target="_blank" rel="noopener">communist China</a>.
Federal prosecutors charged 63-year-old John Harold Rogers, a U.S. citizen with a Ph.D. in economics, with conspiracy to commit economic espionage and with making false statements.
Rogers worked in the Division of International Finance of the FRB from 2010 until 2021, &#8220;where he was entrusted with confidential FRB information,&#8221; the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement. &#8220;The confidential information that Rogers allegedly shared with his Chinese co-conspirators, who worked for the intelligence and security apparatus of China and who posed as graduate students at a PRC university, is economically valuable when secret.&#8221;
Prosecutors explained that the data Rogers allegedly shared with his co-conspirators could allow China to manipulate the U.S. market in a manner that they described as &#8220;similar to insider trading.&#8221;
&#8220;Gaining advance knowledge of U.S. economic policy, including advance knowledge of changes to the federal funds rate, could provide China with an advantage when selling or buying U.S. bonds or securities,&#8221; the statement said.
Prosecutors said that under the guise of teaching classes in China, Rogers began stealing trade secrets and bringing them to the communist nation starting in at least 2018 in exchange for a $450,000 salary as &#8220;a part-time professor at a Chinese university.&#8221;
When he was questioned in 2020 by federal investigators, he allegedly lied to them, which they said &#8220;had a material impact&#8221; on the investigation.
“President Trump tasks us with protecting our fellow Americans from all enemies, foreign and domestic. As alleged in the indictment, this defendant leveraged his position within the Federal Reserve to pass sensitive financial information to the Chinese government, a designated adversary,” said U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia. “Let this indictment serve as a warning to all who seek to betray or exploit the United States: law enforcement will find you and hold you accountable.”
Assistant Director in Charge David Sundberg of the FBI Washington Field Office said, “As alleged in the indictment, Rogers betrayed his country while employed at the Federal Reserve by providing restricted U.S. financial and economic information to Chinese government intelligence officers.”
“This information could allow adversaries to illegally gain a strategic economic advantage at the expense of the U.S.,&#8221; he said. &#8220;This indictment sends a clear message that the FBI and our partners will hold accountable those who threaten our national security.”

The back of an FBI agent

Former Senior Adviser For Federal Reserve Charged With Spying For Communist China: Feds

Communist China

Crime

U.S.

In order to ensure Kamala Harris’ victory in 2024, there has to be some sort of outsized force that propels her to it. But the problem for Harris is that there aren&#8217;t going to be more debates where points are teed up for her.
If something bad happens in the world, that cuts against the Biden-Harris administration. If a large-scale war breaks out in the Middle East right now, that&#8217;s not going to cut against former President Trump; it&#8217;s going to cut against Biden-Harris because she&#8217;s the vice president who failed to prevent it.
If there&#8217;s an economic collapse, that cuts against Harris. If there&#8217;s any piece of really bad data in the country right now, it cuts against the incumbent.
But there is one piece of news that could be released and manipulated in order to try and help Harris.
And it happened on Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/central-banking/fed-cuts-rates-by-half-percentage-point-03566d82" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>:
<blockquote>​The Federal Reserve voted to lower interest rates by a half-percentage point, opting for a bolder start in making its first reduction since 2020. 
Eleven of 12 Fed voters backed the cut, which brings the benchmark federal-funds rate to a range between 4.75% and 5%. Quarterly projections released Wednesday showed a narrow majority of officials penciled in cuts that would lower rates by at least a quarter-point each at meetings in November and December.</blockquote>
They&#8217;re going to start cutting, and they want a hard cut. The problem with a hard cut is that, first, inflation has not gone down all the way to the 2% number the Federal Reserve typically looks for, and, second, the economy is still pretty hot, meaning that unemployment numbers are still not radically up.
So what are they doing? They&#8217;re injecting more money into an economy that actually is not flagging enough to justify that size of a cut. The case for a 25-basis point cut could be made. You could say we need to gradually inject more money into the economy.
But interest rates should be free-flowing and not manipulated by the Federal Reserve at all. It&#8217;s ridiculous that we have a centralized government agency that decides how much your dollar is worth based on a dual mission of reducing unemployment and keeping inflation down. The free market should decide exactly how interest rates float, and sometimes the interest rates need to go up in order to clean out bubbles.
When that doesn&#8217;t happen, bubbles end up growing, and then eventually, the bubbles burst.
The Journal continues:
<blockquote>The Fed governor Michelle Bowman dissented against Wednesday’s decision in favor of a smaller, quarter-point cut. Bowman, who was appointed to the board by Donald Trump in 2018, became the first governor to dissent against an interest-rate decision since 2005. It was the first dissent by any voter on the rate-setting committee since June 2022.
The Fed rate cut marks just the sixth time in the past 30 years that the central bank switched from raising to lowering rates. Usually when the Fed starts cutting rates, it doesn’t know whether it will make a handful of small moves—as it did in 1995 and 1998, when the economy avoided a downturn—or whether it is the start of a longer series of reductions, as in 2001 and 2007, when the central bank cut rates a few months before the economy entered recession.</blockquote>
So, they&#8217;re going to start lowering the interest rates again. There are a few reasons for this. One is the United States government is borrowing money at such an unbelievable clip right now that to leave those interest rates up would ratchet up the interest payments on the national debt. In order to correct for the vast national debt we are piling up, they&#8217;re lowering the interest rates so we don&#8217;t have to pay people back at as high rates. That&#8217;s a major factor.
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Another factor is supposed to be that the economy is slowing so much we need to inject a fresh round of capital.
But let&#8217;s be real about this: Capital has not dried up in the American economy. That is why the stock market is currently riding precisely where it is. Just days ago, the price-to-earnings ratio (which assesses whether a stock is over- or under-valued) for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was riding at 31. The average PE ratio for the Dow over the past three years is 20.
That&#8217;s insane. That means stocks are overvalued. That means there&#8217;s quite a lot of money in the system that is being thrown at the stock market because people don&#8217;t know what to do with the money. Investors are getting a fresh infusion of cash in their pocket, and they&#8217;re immediately planting it where they think it will possibly earn a return. Stocks would be one place. They&#8217;re presumably going to do the same in real estate.
The problem is that the interest rates in real estate remain higher than they were five or six years ago. So even if you want to trade a house for a different house, that now means you&#8217;re giving up a 3.5% interest rate for a 6% interest rate on your mortgage, which costs you a lot more money.
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So what is the cut designed to do? Making a 50-basis point cut signals two things at the same time. First, it signals the economy is on the verge of a downturn. That&#8217;s the reasoning for cutting it 50-basis points as opposed to 25. But second, a 50-basis point cut simultaneously signals that the worries about inflation are over, which means the economy is strong and solid. Obviously, these two things are in conflict with one another.
Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve tried to justify this. He said the Fed’s “patient approach” has paid dividends.
If by “patient approach,” he means increasing the prices of everything over the past three and a half years by roughly 20%, then well done, Jerome. Don&#8217;t strain your shoulder patting yourself on the back too hard. 
The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/19/business/economy/inflation-interest-rates-effects.html">New York Times</a> reported: 
<blockquote>People with jobs have started showing up at homeless shelters in Atlanta. Families who can’t cover their grocery bills are pushing up demand at a Boston food bank. A dearth of available houses is plaguing Sacramento. Yet reports of recent raises abound, and a partly retired homeowner near Pittsburgh is happy about his savings.
America’s bout of painfully high inflation — and the period of high interest rates meant to cure it — is finally drawing toward a close. Price increases are nearly back to a normal pace, so much so that the Federal Reserve voted on Wednesday to lower borrowing costs for the first time in more than four years.
But even as the nation’s tumultuous pandemic economic era begins to approach its end, the period is destined to leave lingering marks.</blockquote>
The Federal Reserve does not want Donald Trump in office. They clearly would like to see Harris elected.
So what is the cut really about?
What it&#8217;s about is trying to generate an ersatz feeling of good momentum on the economy, despite the fact the Business Roundtable CEO Economic Outlook Index suggests the job market is slowing.
Is it slowing, or is it solid? We don&#8217;t know. Jerome Powell won&#8217;t tell us. Is inflation conquered, or is it just coming down? We don&#8217;t know. He won&#8217;t tell us.
While White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has the nerve to suggest the White House is completely independent of the Federal Reserve, have you noticed that every major Democrat in the Senate has been calling for a lowering of interest rates for the last year and a half in an attempt to artificially jog the economy?
* * *
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US-ECONOMY-FED-POWELL

The Federal Reserve Rides To Kamala’s Rescue

2024 Election

Ben Shapiro

Dow Jones

Kamala Harris

Mortgages

Opinion

Unemployment

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/federal-reserve" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Federal Reserve</a> cut interest rates by 50 basis points on Wednesday in the final meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) before the November election.
The cut was larger than most economists predicted and larger than the usual 25 basis point increment by which the FOMC typically moves. The rate cut is the first for the Federal Reserve in over four years since after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The cut reflected FOMC board members’ concern over recent Labor Department data that showed the labor market in a much weaker state than previously thought. Inflation remains higher than the Fed’s 2% target rate &#8212; the consumer price index <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-consumer-prices-rise-moderately-august-2024-09-11/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rose</a> 0.2 points in August to 2.5%. Officials cited the Fed’s dual mandate to fight inflation while encouraging full employment to justify its decision to cut rates, however.
“This recalibration of our policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labor market and will continue to enable further progress on inflation as we begin the process of moving towards a more neutral stance,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said at a Wednesday press conference, according to the <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/bff9e6d8-8906-4b3d-9ff3-72b091b6cd9e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Financial Times</a>.
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The rate cut <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/labor-dept-overestimated-job-growth-by-more-than-800k-revises-data" target="_blank" rel="noopener">comes</a> after a Labor Department review of employment statistics revealed potentially the largest downward revision of jobs estimates in over 15 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month that job growth throughout the 12 months ending in March would be revised downward by 818,000 jobs, roughly equivalent to 0.5% of total U.S. jobs.
The potential revision suggests that monthly jobs numbers reported in the year leading up to the annual review have been seriously inflated, painting a much healthier picture of the economy. The size of the interest rate cut suggests that the FOMC was surprised at the size of the correction of Labor Department data revealed last month.
The next Fed meeting is <a href="https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scheduled</a> for November 6-7, the days immediately after the presidential election.

Fed Slashes Interest Rates In Final Meeting Before Election

The entire Kamala Harris campaign relies on you knowing nothing about Kamala Harris.
First rule of Kamala Harris Fight Club: Nobody talks about Kamala Harris. You must never mention her positions. You must never mention what her crap administration has done. You must never mention anything of the sort. And you must certainly never attempt to get to the underlying philosophy that motivates her politics. You must never ever attempt to do that.
That’s because if you dig just a tiny bit, you find that the Democratic Party has gone so radically far to the Left that they are now indistinguishable from the Democratic Socialists of America. That is the reality.
Look at the great “intellectual luminaries” of the Democratic Party. I&#8217;m not talking about the politicians; I&#8217;m talking about the thought leaders.
Among those <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-usual-suspects-claim-gays-ouster-was-coordinated-racist-attack-it-doesnt-go-well">thought leaders</a> is Nikole Hannah-Jones. You may not have heard about Hannah-Jones recently because, after all, she hasn&#8217;t done any actual work for the last five years. She wrote the absolutely fictitious “The 1619 Project” and in 2020 was given a Pulitzer for it. It is trash. The entire 1619 Project is rooted in the idea that every element of American life is built on the foundation of slavery, and thus morally corrupt and evil and must be wiped away.
The 1619 Project falsifies history, as professional historians have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/1619-project-book-panned-by-historians-hits-amazons-bestseller-list" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed out.</a> But this supposed genius was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2017. She is the apotheosis of a “Democratic intellectual.” She gave a <a href="https://www.bmc.org/eqty2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">speech recently</a> in which <a href="https://x.com/6gems/status/1828522478852771875" target="_blank" rel="noopener">she said</a>, “You know what COVID taught me? That we have enough for everybody. Overnight, we printed $6 trillion. We had universal health care. We had universal basic income. COVID proved it&#8217;s possible.”
If that sounds like communism to you, that&#8217;s because it is communism. You may recall that COVID ended with a 40-year high in inflation, a massively spiraling debt problem, and the complete shutdown of the American economy.
You might remember because you were there. But according to Hannah-Jones, that was amazing. That is what America ought to look like. It ought to look like the government paying you to stay home, shutting down your business, and then compensating you for shutting down your business. The government ought to provide everything for free, and it will have no impact.
In June, Hannah-Jones <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dVGFzvOKdQ">said</a>:
<blockquote>Y’all remember this thing called a pandemic? Y&#8217;all remember that? Do you remember how when all of a sudden all of America was experiencing what black people experience regularly, high unemployment rates, housing instability, inability to access health care, we printed 3 to $6 trillion overnight, overnight. And all of a sudden you couldn&#8217;t evict people. We had universal housing. Anybody who wanted to go get their shot didn&#8217;t have to show a lick of paper or a dollar. Nothing. You showed up, You got the shot.
We paid people income, universal income. My cousin Shamir, who&#8217;s in the 1619 documentary in the capitalism episode, started working at 15 years old. The most she ever made was when she got laid off for COVID and got a check from the government to stay at home. The most she ever made. And she cried about it because she was like, “I have been able to save $1,000 for the first time in my life only because all these people are dying out here. That&#8217;s the first time America cared about me.” </blockquote>
The proposal is free money.
The reason the government compensated people during COVID is because the government told them they could not work. The government said you cannot go to school. You cannot go into your place of work. You have to shut down your business. They shut down the entire country, and then they had to do something so people could remain living.
They took away your livelihood, which is not the same thing as a high unemployment rate that results from high levels of high school dropouts, single motherhood, or dysfunction in the home, community, or schools.
It’s not the same, but this is the actual ideal Democrats are shooting for. They won&#8217;t say it out loud because if they ever did, people would recognize how ugly it is. The big problem for the Democrats with Hannah-Jones is that she&#8217;s constantly saying the Democratic ideal out loud.
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The reality is that the Biden-Harris administration has tried a lot of this.
Blowing money into the economy, the modern monetary theory that debt doesn&#8217;t matter, that doing so creates a rising tide lifting all boats doesn’t work.
It&#8217;s amoral. Money doesn&#8217;t grow on trees. It&#8217;s not magically popping out of the ground because the Federal Reserve says it is. Money is merely a mechanism of exchange. Money does not have its own inherent value any more than inches have their own inherent value on a ruler. It is a measure and a way of quantifying exchange. That is all money is. That&#8217;s all it’s ever been.
But for the Democrats, the Democratic Party, and Harris, the basic idea is the government can magically make money and then just give it out, and that&#8217;s what makes the economy go. That is the basic theory of leftism when it comes to economics. It&#8217;s the basic Keynesian theory as to how economics should work.
But the actual result is people feel left behind — because it doesn&#8217;t actually work that way.
We are now spending more money year on year than any country in the history of the planet. Yet fewer Americans feel they can achieve what the government has been promising them: the home, the family, the retirement.
That&#8217;s not a spending problem. That is something else. It is a perversion of all the incentives leading people to make the right decisions that allow them to build a home and a family and a retirement. Only <a href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/consumers/american-dream-poll-us-economy-e5ddf640?mod=hp_lead_pos7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">10% of Americans</a> believe home ownership is easy or somewhat easy to achieve.
Guess whose fault that might be.
How about the Biden-Harris administration, which has created the most unaffordable housing market in history? Look at all the restrictions the Democrats have put on building all across the country. Look at how they have inflated the currency, which means an increase in the interest rates, which means higher mortgage rates. Then, nobody wants to sell their homes to end up with a higher mortgage.
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In 2005, George W. Bush suggested privatizing Social Security and Democrats went nuts. In January 2005, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 10,603. Bush was pointing out Social Security is a pyramid scheme. If we had taken the money, put it in an index fund, and left it there until now, trillions of dollars would have flowed into Social Security because today, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is 41,000.
Instead, the federal government was left in charge of the program, so they could raid it whenever necessary.
That is Democratic policy making: You cannot bring the private markets to bear on anything.
Democrats have said everyone needs to go to college, and we need to pour money into student loans. And the cost of college has shot up and the worth of a degree has dropped precipitously.
Harris is proposing $5 trillion in tax increases, including a 28% federal corporate tax rate and a 44.6% top capital gains and dividend tax rate, which would give America the highest total tax rate on corporate income in the developed world.
Democrat policies fail.
And Harris, the most leftist major party presidential candidate in American history, has not been forced to answer for any of them.
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Kamala Harris Campaigns For President In Savannah, Georgia

Defending Kam-unism

Communism

Democratic Party

Democrats

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Economics

Leftists

Nikole Hannah-Jones

There will come a point when Kamala Harris has to answer a serious question. 
Democrats are hoping that doesn&#8217;t happen until after the election. After all, there are only 98 days until the election and early voting begins in roughly one month. In September, early voting will begin in some of the swing states like Pennsylvania. And today is August 5. All Harris has to do is avoid serious questions for the next couple of weeks, and then she will be at the Democratic National Convention. She will hit a bump coming out of that. 
So the Harris honeymoon will likely continue for another solid three weeks or more. 
We are now at 16 days and counting since Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. She has not been asked one question over two weeks. Zero questions. 
The press acts as the Praetorian Guard for Kamala Harris. Donald Trump should be saying he wants to debate her every week from now until the election because no one else is going to ask her a tough question. 
She&#8217;s being completely dishonest about the debate challenge. Trump accepted a debate under certain circumstances with Biden, and then they slotted in Harris. Why won&#8217;t he keep that same debate calendar? Because she’s a different human. Does she have to debate JD Vance now since she had agreed to a vice presidential debate with JD Vance when Biden was the actual nominee? 
The American people know Donald Trump. The American people do not know Kamala Harris. The vast majority of Americans have no idea who is the sitting vice president of the United States right now. They have no idea what Harris even does for a living.
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She should be forced to answer questions since her administration is sitting at the top of American governance. It’s amazing that until now, it was always the Biden-Harris administration, even while Biden was attempting to shuttle her off somewhere so that she didn&#8217;t have any part in governance. She kept glomming onto him and claiming that she was part of all the decision-making.
Fine. If she was and still is part of the decision-making, why doesn’t she have to answer for the fact that we&#8217;re in the middle of a massive stock market sell-off? According to the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/australia-shares-shaping-for-hefty-opening-drop-b608ea61">Wall Street Journal</a>: 
<blockquote>A stock-market selloff intensified around the world, sending U.S. indexes sliding and volatility spiking to its highest levels since the Covid-19 pandemic. 
In early trading, the Nasdaq Composite fell more than 5%, while the S&amp;P 500 fell about 4% and the Dow was around 3% lower. 
Painful turbulence started in Japan early Monday, with the Nikkei 225 falling more than 12%, its worst one-day drop since the crash after Black Monday in 1987. Losses then cascaded across South Korea, Europe and the U.S., as investors dumped riskier assets and flocked to safety.
The declines extended what has been a dizzying few days on Wall Street during which this year’s most popular trades have been aggressively unwound. A selloff in tech shares continued Monday, with Nvidia, Meta and Apple each losing 9% or more. (The iPhone maker took an extra hit from news that Berkshire Hathaway had slashed its Apple stake.) </blockquote>
Why is all of this happening? Because people are beginning to realize that as the job market is coming in really, really soft, we may be entering a recession. When inflation rates are jacked up to 10% or 12%, even with jacking them back down all the way to 2.5%, all the loose money is siphoned off in that process, which leads to less investment and to job losses, which is what is about to begin happening.
The Wall Street Journal continues in their report, writing:
<blockquote>Concerns about a slowing U.S. economy are front and center for investors after job growth slowed sharply in July. Investors are worried that the Federal Reserve has moved too slowly and will need to play catch up in cutting rates. 
</blockquote>
One of the things that&#8217;s so amazing about how our global economy works at this point is how much of it is run by the central banks.
Your job should not be reliant on whether Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is good at his. Your job should not be reliant on whether central bankers in London are good at predicting the future and determining exactly what the inflation rate should be. This is why the very idea of a Federal Reserve in the United States that jacked up and down the supply of money in order to manipulate job markets is ridiculous.
What you really want is a perfectly predictable regime in monetary and fiscal terms so that you can make good decisions about whether or not to invest or not invest. That&#8217;s not the way this works anymore. Now, we&#8217;re all reading tea leaves. Now, we&#8217;ve all been sitting around wondering what Jerome Powell was going to do. Maybe he was too late on the gas or maybe he was too late on the brake.
That is not the way a healthy global economy should run. That is the way things are running, however, and a lot of that has been brought about, of course, by the massive spending Harris voted for. Remember, the Inflation Reduction Act was a 50-50 vote in the Senate — and she was the deciding vote.
Does she get to take credit for that? It seems to me that if she gets to take credit for all of the supposed Biden administration accomplishments, when the stock market starts to tank, she gets to take credit for that one as well.
Warren Buffett is looking at the markets and saying, “I don&#8217;t like what I&#8217;m seeing here.” The <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp500-nasdaq-live-08-05-2024/card/apple-stock-price-sinks-8-after-warren-buffett-s-berkshire-hathaway-cuts-stake-d8C0uZXxxW9rbYnOgANm?mod=lctimeline_finance" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wall Street Journal&#8217;s</a> “Stock Market Today” writes:
<blockquote>Shares of the iPhone maker dropped more than 6% Monday after Warren Buffett&#8217;s Berkshire Hathaway disclosed over the weekend that it had sold nearly half of its Apple stock in the second quarter. Buffett’s reputation as one of the all-time greatest stock pickers means his decisions can significantly sway the market. But Apple is also facing pressure from an aggressive rotation out of technology stocks. In addition to Apple, shares of Nvidia, Tesla and Alphabet also fell sharply as investors unloaded riskier assets.</blockquote>
Meanwhile, Wall Street&#8217;s fear gauge has been soaring. CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/05/wall-streets-fear-gauge-the-vix-rises-to-the-highest-since-2020.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>: 
<blockquote>The Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, briefly broke above 65 on Monday morning, up from about 23 on Friday and roughly 17 a week ago. It had cooled to about 32 shortly after noon ET.
The Monday morning peak was the highest level the VIX has hit since March 2020, shortly after the Federal Reserve’s emergency actions during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to FactSet. The VIX rose as high as 85.47 in March 2020, according to FactSet.
The VIX is calculated based on market pricing for options on the S&amp;P 500. It is designed to be a measure of expected volatility over the next 30 days, and is often referred to as Wall Street’s “fear gauge.”</blockquote>
Even after the COVID lockdowns were over, Biden just kept spending oodles and oodles of money, keeping the money loose. Signs of lower consumer spending are cropping up. And there&#8217;s the inverted yield curve where longer dated bonds have a lower yield than the short-term Fed funds rate, which usually signals recession.
Where is Kamala Harris in all this?
Given the supreme importance of the economy to voters, this could turn a neck-and-neck race between Trump and Harris to one strongly in favor of Trump.
* * *
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