Posted on 12/20/2018 8:01:54 AM PST by Hojczyk
CNBC’s Jim Cramer went off on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, saying President Donald Trump is right to worry about a possible recession in 2019 as a result of the central bank chief’s rate hikes.
“The president is spot on,” Cramer said on CNBC’s “Mad Money” on Wednesday evening, after the Powell Fed raised rates for the fourth time in 2018 and projected two more increases next year. “The Fed is perfectly happy to gradually strangle the economy, the U.S. economy, in order to stamp out inflation, or the potential of inflation. And that’s bad news for corporate earnings” and the stock market.
Cramer has been saying for months there’s no need to worry about inflation since it’s not problematically high, and that the economy is showing pockets of weakness. Taken together, those factors indicate the Fed should pause rate hike, he has argued.
“If I were running Trump’s re-election campaign, Jay Powell would be my worst nightmare,” said Cramer, who, like the president, has been calling on Powell to stop. Powell apologists, “they must have no sense or empathy for what’s about to happen to the working person in this country,” Cramer added.
Cramer said Powell asserted the Fed’s independence from political pressure but to the detriment of the economy and the stock market. “You could easily argue that we should’ve been down 1,000 Dow points,” Cramer said, adding that it would have made “a ton of sense” given what he’s heard.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
If so another case of Trump not doing his homework before making an appointment to a mission-critical position.
He was the liberal half of Kudlow & Cramer on CNBC before they split off.
The Fed should be eliminated entirely. Let the market decide, not central planners
But Powell said yesterday his decision was not about politics? s/
He’s been ill advised several times. He likes to give people a chance. He can’t do that when he can’t fire at will.
When Jay Powell was being considered for the Fed chairman position, his economic philosophy about tight monetary policy was well known as his DEFINING characteristic for this role.
Saying Trump didn't do his homework before appointing Powell is like saying Trump didn't know Dr. Ben Carson was: (1) black, and (2) a doctor, until after he appointed Carson to be the HUD secretary.
Powell will be irrelevant as cheap oil prices work their magic on the economy. The question is what will happen when oil drops into the $40/bbl something range. That should have a big effect on inflation.
Unfortunately he has listened to the lokes of Javanka, Pence, Priebus, etc., on staffing from the start. He still has an RNC deep state staffer, in Johnny DeStefano, as the head of his admin HR, vetoing ANY actual MAGA staffers! He has endorsed Ms. Romney to lead another GOP election of failure in 2020, and is still naming swamp creatures in key roles day by day.
Now he tweets that he fell for Congress’s GOPe leadership at the time of the last omnibus signing, when the “promised” to fund the wall before the year’s end. And of course now they will blame it never getting done on the Den House that Msg. Romney helped to usher in.
They set the interest rate for Obama to 0% because they knew is negative growing economy would produce no inflation.
Another swamp ‘elite’ who would rather the little people suffer a depression so they can get rid of Trump.
Powell has enough money - he won’t be hurt... just like Bill Maher - let the little people suffer for the fat egos of the elites...
Trump needs to make all further appointments to high offices from the people in flyover - totally ban DC prep school grads and CommieLites from the Ivy’s....
“When Jay Powell was being considered for the Fed chairman position, his economic philosophy about tight monetary policy was well known as his DEFINING characteristic for this role.
Saying Trump didn’t do his homework before appointing Powell is like saying Trump didn’t know Dr. Ben Carson was: (1) black, and (2) a doctor, until after he appointed Carson to be the HUD secretary.”
Point well taken. But where you have erred is that Jay Powell’s behavior goes very, very, very far beyond simply tight monetary policy. Given the precipitous drop in world markets over the past few weeks, could his precious quarter-point rise have waited until next month’s FOMC meeting — 30 days — especially since this was the counsel that many experts were giving? Could the Fed’s language have been softened? Was a confrontational press conference value adding in ANY way? Could Powell have figured that coming out in a political forum to attack another politician in service of saying that the Fed is APOLITICAL confuse people?
The FED has quantitatively eased for a decade, through two full Obama administrations and in service of trying to elect Hillary Clinton. Does Powell not get it that half of America views the timing and the Fed’s sudden resoluteness as calculated to hurt Trump?
The Dow dropped nearly 1,000 points from announcement to this morning as the Fed did nothing more than follow through on its announce policy of raising one modest interest rate a lousy 25 basis points. No doubt the Dow would have gone up by that much or more had the FOMC simply announce that for 30 days it would do nothing. The carnage overseas is so much worse than here — the Nikkei dropped 3% overnight last night. Truly, when the Fed claims to want to be in the background and apolitical and blah blah blah and then sees this kind of reaction, even idiot central bankers need to reconsider the wisdom of what they are doing.
I am a fan of stable money and quantitative tightening and interest rates set above the rate of inflation and rules rather than discretion. Ordinarily I would be in Powell’s corner. But as happens routinely with Trump’s adversaries, I am distraught that Powell has made such a jack*ss out of his own self. The Bernanke-Yellen-... nutcases have made the world’s financial system into a complete disaster. They are fools for pointing the finger at Trump.
And I am no fan of Trump.
Another self inflicted wound by Trump.
He has done an abysmal job with his appointments.
>> When Jay Powell was being considered for the Fed chairman position, his economic philosophy about tight monetary policy was well known as his DEFINING characteristic for this role. <<
>> Saying Trump didn’t do his homework before appointing Powell is like saying Trump didn’t know Dr. Ben Carson was: (1) black, and (2) a doctor, until after he appointed Carson to be the HUD secretary. <<
Uh, not knowing something knowable out a guy is precisely what Cramer meant about “not doing his homework.”
Powell is hell-bent on raising interest, for no other reason that raising interest, and doesn’t give a $h!+ about causing a recession or financial panic. He was an incredible stupid choice. It’s the kind of move that was so unbelievably stupid, it makes you almost wonder if Trump is trying to fail.
What’s the economic case for raising interest rates? I have friends who always complain about the federal reserve stoking inflation with cheap money and that the CPI or PCE is crap. OK, Mr Powell, if you agree with those folks, publish YOUR inflation measure which justifies rising interest rates.
Rather, Powell believes in the false doctrine that low unemployment necessarily causes inflation. It’s been disproved 1,000 times. BUt it means that demonsemen like him believe that you have to crush the American worker into poverty in order to enrich banks.
... and if you don’t believe me, see that the stick market is down 1,000 points since he raised interest rates. That means that the nations’ wealthy people — the people most likely to gain by aggressively holding down wages to benefit corporate profits — believe he is going to wind up hurting corporate profits.
“When Jay Powell was being considered for the Fed chairman position, his economic philosophy about tight monetary policy was well known as his DEFINING characteristic for this role.”
Then why did he pick him if now he’s ripping him. Trump has done one crappy job with his appointments, starting with his earliest one, Sessions.
“If so another case of Trump not doing his homework before making an appointment to a mission-critical position.”
Or, someone he takes advice from, such as who to appoint for FBI Director, needs to be removed far from the White House.
Or more of the swamp able to bend people to their will
Anyone who sold out of the U.S. stock market over a 0.25% hike in the FED discount rate has no business investing in the stock market in the first place. It’s not Powell’s job to fix irrational behavior among investors.
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