Trump Says the President Should Have Some Say Over Fed Policy

Republican nominee Donald Trump said that the president should have “some say” over interest rates and monetary policy, a move that would go against the longstanding practice of the US Federal Reserve being independent of political actors. He spoke during a press conference Thursday at his  Mar
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[tidey]

Any president would ruin the country if able to change the interest rate.

[GIVAustralia]

Sounds like what a leader once said in Germany during the 1930s.

[martinjrtremblay]

Trust Trump to keep Wall Street and his own company stocks healthy!! Yeah baby

[ChadBlevins]

Go take your meds grandpa... let the experts do their job.

[Terry-of]

Politization of the FED is a very bad idea. Nixon tried, and it was a disaster.

[tbrooks]

Nah, he wrong on this one. Hopefully even his most adamant supporters can agree.

[Longtermalwayswins]

Please let president trump back. Let america be great again

[jenesaisquoijones]

Regarding the comments yesterday by @realDonaldTrump that "the President should have some say in interest rates" and that because "he was a successful businessman, he is more qualified to know about rates than the Fed."
Okay, where to begin.
First of all, with all due respect to the former President's history with interest rates in his business life, ummmm, unless he means, "I learned from mistakes, " I don't think his borrowing history in the context of rate timing would exactly be at the top of his resume. I do have receipts here.
But second, let's just be clear. Yes, he is dead wrong. No President should be setting interest rates with the central bank. It's outrageous.
BUT third, let's not over do this. He is jawboning, and he knows the people he is talking to have no idea what a rules-based framework of monetary policy is or ought to be, and his comments are standard Trumpian banter, not serious Presidential policy. That's not an excuse, but it is a fact.
And finally, Trump could easily say, EVERY President has tried to effect monetary policy. Total independence of the Fed is a myth, and while Trump is saying it out loud (and shouldn't), he would not be wrong to say that all administrations (at the very least, through their Treasury Dept) have acted in some accord with the Fed.
There's my take. All of it.

[panda.paradox.]

Absolutely not. Trump is not mentally stable, this guy is nuts.

[Unsolicitedbias]

My question to Mr. Gut Feeling is Mr. Guts let's shorten his name, "What should the Key Fed Funds Rate be now?"

But before that I would ask him "What is current Fed Funds Rate?"

Let's see if he knows that accurately? See he may have a gut feeling, but does he know any facts?

Then how fast and how much would President Guts lower rates? Or would he raise them further?

And of course that often forgotten Federal Reserve Balance Sheet, let's ask him about that too.

How much of these destressed bonds and financial instruments are currently on the Federal Reserve Balance Sheet?

And how would you adjust that composition of the Federal Reserves' Balance Sheet? And how fast would he make that change?

The current federal funds rate is 5.25-5.50%

$8.19 trillion
As of August 14, 2023, the Federal Reserve balance sheet was at $8.19 trillion, bank reserve balances were at $3.22 trillion, and ON RRP facility take-up was at $1.79 trillion. The value of the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve has increased significantly overall since 2007, when it stood at roughly 0.9 trillion U.S. dollars. As of July 26, 2023, the Federal Reserve had roughly 8.24 trillion U.S. dollars of assets on its balance sheet. In the latest QE round, the Fed’s balance sheet more than doubled from $4.3 trillion in March 2020 to $8.9 trillion in May 20223.

See? This is probably not a Guts Feeling sort of thing. Especially from a Business man that has more than his share of Bankrupt Businesses. Do you really want someone with TRUMPS level of Fraud in charge of the Federal Reserve Operations and balance sheet?

It' would be like putting El Chapo in charge of the US Depart. of Drug Enforcement.

Maybe Trump would like to do that too? He has some very well thought out ideas, this guy, Mr. Guts Feelings. He is so smart. I can't want for him to open his mouth more.

Every day is like Christmas. TRUMPS just keeps giving us more and more idiocy and hate and bigotry and sexism and racism and elitism. I just can't thank him enough. Life would certainly be boring without TRUMPS and Elon that is for sure.

Maybe in the next cycle. Elon can run with TRUMPS?

[SECULARDEVELOPMENT]

Hey everybody the convicted felon has some opinions!

[whateverism]

If Turd gets access to the printer he will go right away, just for sake of watching it 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 At this point he has the intelligence of a toddler.

[SeanTwyman-megh]

For one of the rare instances of orange faced one telling complete truth: press play😂

[Edison]

trump: 1. He would be broke if it wasn't for his daddies money. 2. How many times has he filed for bankruptcy? 3. He lied about his property value in NY, was found guilty and had to beg a California billionaire to bail him out. I think his supporters should turn over their finances to him, see how that goes, then vote him in as president with the money that he made for them.

[kylen]

Wait..the incredibly indebted politician thinks he should have a say in interest rates…shocker

[danr]

Hilarious, the interest rate would always be zero, lol .. reason federal Reserve is separate to keep us from having issues a person like trump could do to money and markets..

[glennnielsen]

Although the FED cannot be said to be completely independent, there is no point in making it official. They must at least have the option if a strong person like Volcker sits at the end of the table. The money printing press is where inflation is initiated.

[-]

The last think I want is Trump telling the Fed what to do with interest rates.

[Tony-bf]

Politicians should never be allowed to directly manipulate the federal reserve! Obviously he doesn't understand the importance of keeping the federal reserve independent! What an idiot to make this dangerous comment!