The Federal Reserve has defied weeks of pressure from Donald Trump and declined to cut interest rates while the impact of his trade war on inflation remains unclear.
The US central bank voted to hold base rates at 4.25pc to 4.5pc yesterday, with Jerome Powell, its chairman, insisting the president’s criticisms have no bearing on its decision making.
Spud demanding resistance to Trump’s fascism.
Plus, why the Bank of England should not be indepndent and Rachel should set interest rates.
Weird how they were able to cut them by 0.5% just before the last election in unpropitious circumstances.
Some might have construed that as an attempt to help the incumbent party but I would never be so cynical.
Yes it’s another one of those variable definitions
Mr Powell warned the White House’s trade policies had created “a great deal of uncertainty” and suggested that tariffs would crash the US economy unless Mr Trump backs down. He said: “If the large increases in tariffs that have been announced are sustained, they are likely to generate a rise in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth and an increase in unemployment.”
They’re trying the Liz Truss plan of unelected central bankers trying to veto the government, but somehow I don’t think it’s going to work on President Trump.
Maybe the monetary policy of the Fed should be handed over to an AI thingy.
Then idiosyncrasies could be blamed on “hallucinations” rather than political partisanship.
Surely a measure of inflation is the point of introducing import tariffs & should be welcome? If you’re increasing the price of imported goods to the consumer to encourage domestic production that, in the short term at least, is going to be the outcome. It’s intended, in due course, to be balanced by the increase in domestic production.
Isn’t that the point of the exercise?
I’d have to agree with you, BiS.
He’s a central banker, BiS.
That means he doesn’t get out of bed unless there’s unbaptized baby blood to make into a flying potion.
‘Independent’ central bankers are just politicians masquerading as technocrats. Its still politics, just the politics of the Establishment class, enacted in a way that means the masses can’t have a say in what they do. As such they should be abolished. Democratically elected politicians may be crap at setting interest rates but at least we can throw the buggers out every now and then. Establishment placemen like old Piggy in the BoE, not so much.