Posted on 10/13/2018 3:11:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The economy is roaring, the courts are turning right and trade wars are not producing defeats. As the presidents approval rating creeps up, is it all going right for Republicans?
A strong economy with joblessness at its lowest rate for nearly half a century. A new trade deal with Canada and Mexico. Hopes of peace in the Korean peninsula. No major terrorist attacks on the homeland. A week that began with cheers at the White House for a new supreme court justice and ended with the release of an American pastor from jail in Turkey.
An alien who landed in Washington today might be forgiven for assuming the president is a highly successful leader, wildly popular with the public. But then someone would have to patiently explain, Let me tell you about Donald Trump
Opponents accuse Trump of trading in misogyny, racism, mendacity, crassness and chaos, as painfully documented by authors Michael Wolff and Bob Woodward. They also contend that the policy wins listed above are hollow. An economy built on Barack Obamas foundations, tax cuts that favour the rich, mounting national debt; a supreme court nominee rammed through in a show of contempt for women; a love-in with North Koreas dictator; self-destructive trade wars and a surrender of global leadership.
Nevertheless, like Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher, Trump has already passed the test of making himself consequential and handing his conservative supporters a narrative. Liberal-baiting cheerleaders include White House counsel Kellyanne Conway, press secretary Sarah Sanders and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, the author of books such as Understanding Trump and Trumps America: The Truth about Our Nations Great Comeback....
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Inflation can be a valid reason for the Fed to raise the rates. This ability to control rates has enabled them to lessen or prevent damage in the past, but it always seemed to have a cause and reaction. In recent time, there has been too much talk about the Fed using it as a tool to control the economy - i.e. rates are low when growth is slow or they use it to cool down the economy when they feel like it is too exuberant.
This type of thought was not really in the charter of the Federal Reserve, but then again, neither was 16 trillion in debt that is able to exist because of the Fed.
We are in uncharted waters and I don’t think everyone appreciates the power of just over a dozen bankers to add or subtract a point here or there. Consider how much money you could make if you knew there would be a .5 or 1% GDP difference ahead of time when you apply that to a 20 trillion dollar economy! It is the ultimate insiders game and it is only in the hands of a very few who each have their own friends and political interest.
We should all be suspicious of such a game. This is especially true considering most of the Fed rotate in and out between the Fed, public service, and the too big to fail banks. The potential for malfeasance is undeniable.
I would have expected if Trump continued his economic success that rates would go up (that is all they can do they have been so low), but this “pre-emptive” rate hike appears to be a little early in the game and it will have a cooling effect on the economy going into 2020 as it will be more expensive to borrow money. I don’t underestimate the Trumpster though - he has overcome everything they put in his path, but rate hikes are potentially the biggest obstacle to the kind of numbers he is hoping to achieve.
Remember Schumer “warning” trump that the spy agencies have “six ways from Sunday” to get revenge? The Fed has powerful weapons too.
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