Free Republic

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that the central bank is working to separate “the signal from the noise” in order to formulate its monetary policy amid a flurry of new initiatives and policy announcements from the Trump administration during its first weeks in office. “The new administration is in the process of implementing significant policy changes,” Powell said. “We are focused on separating the signal from the noise as the outlook evolves. We do not need to be in a hurry.” Powell added, “Uncertainty around the changes and their likely effects remains high.” The Trump administration has issued...

A while back somebody over at Ace of Spades mentioned that with 2 or 3 exceptions, every member of Dubya's administration turned into a Democrat. My first thought was "that can't be right", and then I got thinking. And it wasn't pretty. So I decided I'd go through and get the backup behind Ace's assertion. After going back and editing, this post feels like Apocalypse Now's Captain Willard and his trip up the river that starts out OK and slowly but surely becomes a nightmare. I report; you decide: Press SecretaryAri Fleisher - Not as bad as most of this...

U.S. stocks finished lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting its worst day in over four months after the Federal Reserve decided to lower its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points but reduced its forecast for further rate cuts in 2025. The Dow fell 1,123.03 points, or 2.6%, to end at 42,326.87. The blue-chip index fell for a 10th straight session, logging its longest losing streak since October 1974, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The S&P 500 was off 178.45 points, or nearly 3%, to finish at 5,872.16. The large-cap index suffered its largest one-day...

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank deeper into the history books on Wednesday, with the storied index on track for its 10th straight losing day following a disappointing rate outlook by the Federal Reserve. The Dow lost 624 points, or 1.4%, on track for its worst losing streak since an 11-day slide in 1974. The 30-stock average posted a nine-day losing streak on Tuesday, its longest since 1978. The S&P 500 lost 1.5% and the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.9%. The central bank reduced its overnight borrowing rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 4.25% to 4.5%, as...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell had a clear, direct response when asked during a press conference Thursday if he would step down if asked to do so by President-elect Trump. “No,” said Powell, whose term as chair ends in 2026. Powell also said in 2019 that he would not resign if asked by Trump. President Biden reappointed Powell in 2021 — despite objections from progressives who have criticized the chair — saying he has burdened the average American by keeping rates too high for too long. Trump suggested earlier this year that Powell, a lifelong Republican, was “political” and would...

President Joe Biden on Thursday appeared to forget meeting with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as recently as two years ago. “I’ve never once spoken to the chairman of the Fed since I became president,” Biden said, falsely, in a speech at the Economic Club of Washington. Biden met with Powell as recently as May 2022 in the Oval Office. This was Powell’s third in-person meeting with President Biden, according to Bloomberg. Biden nominated Powell to a second term as chair of the Fed in November 2021. Biden’s false statement was meant to contrast his approach to the Fed with...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the nation’s unemployment rate is being raised by Alejandro Mayorkas’ huge inflow of migrants. The statement acknowledges the extraordinary political power accumulated by the Cuban-born Secretary of Homeland Security. Mayorkas’ ability to raise and lower the migration rate makes him the nation’s de facto “Labor Czar” and gives him extraordinary influence over Americans’ employment rates, wages and housing, and even their interest rates. Mayorkas insists he has the legal power to set blue-collar and white-collar immigration rates as he sees fit, regardless of migration numbers set by Congress in 1990, or the wishes of...

Inflation edged higher in July, according to a measure favored by the Federal Reserve as the central bank prepares to enact its first interest rate reduction in more than four years. The Commerce Department reported Friday that the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 0.2% on the month and was up 2.5% from the same period a year ago, exactly in line with the Dow Jones consensus estimates. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, core PCE also increased 0.2% for the month but was up 2.6% from a year ago. The 12-month figure was slightly softer than the 2.7% estimate....

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled Friday that interest rate cuts are coming soon. "The time has come for policy to adjust," Powell said in his speech during the Kansas City Fed's symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. "The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks." "Inflation is now much closer to our objective, with prices having risen 2.5% over the past 12 months," he said. "After a pause earlier this year, progress toward our 2% objective has resumed. My confidence has...

Bank officials signal readiness to start interest rate-cutting cycle to ease pressure on households and businesses After a rollercoaster month in financial markets amid fears of a potential US recession, a majority of economists polled by Reuters said they did not expect a downturn to materialise, and that the Fed would cut borrowing costs by 0.25 percentage points at each of its remaining meetings in 2024. It comes after the heads of three regional Federal Reserve banks signalled growing readiness for the start of a rate-cutting cycle to help ease pressure on households and businesses from high borrowing costs. The...

The latest inflation report says we’re still 50% over the Fed’s target. Is that really close enough? Will inflation disappear by itself? Why is Jerome Powell so close to giving up the inflation fight? Morgan Stanley thinks the Federal Reserve could start cutting rates as early as September, based on the idea that “inflation is finally under control.” The Federal effective funding rate has been held at 5% or higher since May 2023, as you can see on the graph below: (You can also see how the rate was left over 6% – at one point a mind-boggling 19% –...

The U.S. government’s immigration policy raises inflation pressures in some parts of the economy, but also reduces it in other parts of the economy, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell told Sen. JD. Vance (R-OH). “Overall, in terms of aggregate inflation, I wouldn’t say it’s a driver [of inflation] one way or the other,” Powell told Vance on July 9. Powell’s admission discredits media-magnified claims by many business interests — including Goldman Sachs — that more migration would help reduce the inflation that has crippled President Joe Biden’s administration. That unfounded claim has been touted by many establishment media outlets, such...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has tested positive for COVID-19 and is experiencing related symptoms. Powell tested positive late Thursday. "Following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, he is staying away from others and working at home,” a Fed spokesperson said.

Hidden Camera captures Principal Economist @federalreserve talking about Jerome Powell’s legacy as “somebody who held the line against like, Trump.” The influential agency responsible for maintaining a stable monetary system appears to not just be establishing interest rates, but to be setting policies for desired social outcomes. “Under Powell, the Fed has changed to think about equity issues, like racial issues, think about wealth inequality as part of the mandate, as part of the things we are following. Think about climate change.” Aurel Hizmo, Principal Economist at the Federal Reserve, who prior to working at the Fed was an Assistant...

Haiti is back in the news... I thought the Clinton Foundation had fixed the place! Or Colin Powell in the 1990s. Or something. How soon until Biden sends in American troops? Or lets 500,000 Haitians come to America? Anyway, Haiti is in the state of nature right now, with gangs and mobs rampaging. And yet, as a smart left-leaning friend of mine (I do have a few of those—opposition research) points out, the murder rate in Haiti is lower than many American cities:

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday he expects to see some banks fail due to their exposure to the commercial real estate sector, which has declined significantly in value following the shift to remote work. Powell said the banks that are in trouble with falling office space and retail assets are not the big banks, which were designated as “systemically important” in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. That episode, which resulted in a taxpayer bailout of the financial sector, was also triggered by unsound real estate assets. Rather, the banks at risk of failure now Powell identified...

According to mythology, Hades made King Sisyphus roll a huge boulder endlessly up a steep hill in Tartarus. Unfortunately, the modern day version of Sisyphus is the middle class pushing a boulder endlessly up a steep hill while the top 1% (the elite class) horde more and more wealth. An example of the Sisyphus economy? The top 1% of earners (blue line) have seen an incredible increase in net worth, particularly after Fed Chair Alan Greenspan’s big rate cuts (green line) from 2000 to 2004. Each subsequent rate cuts under Bernanke (2007-2008) and Yellen (who just kept rates too low...

Giuliani's business contracts tie him to the man who let 9/11's mastermind escape the FBI Three weeks after 9/11, when the roar of fighter jets still haunted the city's skyline, the emir of gas-rich Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifah al-Thani, toured Ground Zero. Although a member of the emir's own royal family had harbored the man who would later be identified as the mastermind of the attack—a man named Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, often referred to in intelligence circles by his initials, KSM—al-Thani rushed to New York in its aftermath, offering to make a $3 million donation, principally to the families...

As Commander Cody sang, “We have too much debt.” “The prices of some things will decline. Others will go up. But we don’t expect to see a decline in the overall price level,” said Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Nvidia stock hitting new highs, its market cap soaring to $1.78trln. “That doesn’t tend to happen in economies, except in very negative circumstances. What you will see, though, is inflation coming down,” explained the Fed Chairman, the average American neither understanding nor caring about the nuance. “I would say this. In the long run, the US federal government is on an...

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said “the U.S. is on an unsustainable fiscal path” in an 60 Minutes interview with Scott Pelley released Sunday. “The U.S. federal government’s on an unsustainable fiscal path. And that just means that the debt is growing faster than the economy. So, it is unsustainable. I don’t think that’s at all controversial,” Powell said when asked if the national debt is a danger to the economy.