Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Wednesday continued his verbal assault on the Federal Reserve, which he blames for slowing the economy, tweeting that the central bank should cut interest rates to zero or even set negative interest rates. The president also called Fed officials “boneheads” in the tweet.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday lowered interest rates for the first time since the Great Recession in 2008 to help stave off the possibility of an economic downturn. Policymakers led by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell voted 8-2 in favor of a small cut in the federal funds rate, and recommitted to their promise to "act as appropriate" to sustain the country's longest economic expansion in history. Interest rates, which affect the cost of borrowing for credit cards and mortgages, are now set to hover between 2% and 2.25%. The rate cut follows months of pressure from President Donald Trump, who...

What the Market wanted to hear from Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve was that this was the beginning of a lengthy and aggressive rate-cutting cycle which would keep pace with China, The European Union and other countries around the world ... As usual, Powell let us down, but at least he is ending quantitative tightening, which shouldn’t have started in the first place - no inflation. We are winning anyway, but I am certainly not getting much help from the Federal Reserve!

With almost no inflation, our Country is needlessly being forced to pay a MUCH higher interest rate than other countries only because of a very misguided Federal Reserve. In addition, Quantitative Tightening is continuing, making it harder for our Country to compete. As good as we have done, it could have been soooo much better. Interest rate costs should have been much lower, & GDP & our Country’s wealth accumulation much higher. Such a waste of time & money. Also, very unfair that other countries manipulate their currencies and pump money in! It is far more costly for the Federal...

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Friday he has offered a position on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors to Stephen Moore, a conservative economic adviser who has become an outspoken critic of the Fed’s interest-rate policy. Mr. Moore, who has criticized the Fed for raising interest rates over the past year, is an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation who helped draft Mr. Trump’s tax proposals in the 2016 campaign. As a nominee, Mr. Moore would face intense criticism in the Senate from Democrats, with whom he has clashed on several economic issues in his career as a commentator...

Embattled Federal Reserve chairman tells White House officials he'll meet face-to-face with Trump in bid to end feud that left stock markets reeling over fears president will fire him Dow Jones closed up 1,086.25 points, or 4.98 per cent, on Wednesday It was the stock index's largest single-day points gain in U.S. history Follows biggest-ever Christmas Eve plunge for markets on Monday White House officials tried to soothe fears over Trump's fury at Federal Reserve He's upset about rate hikes and reportedly said he wanted to fire the fed chair Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is now telling the White...

A bruising stock selloff continued, erasing more than 650 points from the Dow Jones Industrial Average as Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tried to instill calm into a jittery market. Coming off the stock market’s worst week since the 2008 financial crisis, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell for a fourth straight session Monday as investors continued to weigh the impact of rising interest rates, slowing U.S. growth, and the ramifications of a government shutdown extending into January. With the selloff showing little signs of slowing, Mr. Mnuchin attempted to reassure investors, saying he had spoken...

President Trump condemned the Federal Reserve early Christmas Eve as the stock market dipped on Monday’s short trading day amid interest rate concerns and federal government shutdown drama. “The only problem our economy has is the Fed. They don’t have a feel for the Market, they don’t understand necessary Trade Wars or Strong Dollars or even Democrat Shutdowns over Borders,” Trump said in a tweet Monday. “The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch - he can’t putt!” The attack comes after Bloomberg News reported late Friday that Trump had discussed firing Federal...

I hope the people over at the Fed will read today’s Wall Street Journal Editorial before they make yet another mistake. Also, don’t let the market become any more illiquid than it already is. Stop with the 50 B’s. Feel the market, don’t just go by meaningless numbers. Good luck!

The Fed has done all they can to derail Republican Presidents for the past half century. President George H. W. Bush blamed the Fed for his loss in 1992. George H. W. Bush believed balancing the budget was his top priority, but his efforts to do so were constantly hindered by his “no new taxes” pledge. He held conservative views on government spending and believed that issues like homelessness and crime were important, but that the government should not use more tax money to fix such issues. Bush agreed to a budget agreement in 1990 which looked to the long-run...