It's tempting to call Trump the Biggest Bonehead of all, but I fear this man knows exactly what he's doing. He's crazy like a fox, and surrounds himself with boneheads who seem to be falling all over themselves to carry out his goals to dismantle our government agencies one by one. (A directive which he is carrying out for Vlad -- HIS master.)
Is there no one in charge that can make this craziness stop?
3
Clearly the President is unhinged and incompetent.
How can he remain in his role when his ignorance is on full display? Amazing and embarrassing!
3
And they call China a currency manipulator...
6
Everyone is an expert.... so why can’t our dim President tell the Fed how to do its job better.
Non-expert experts have already demonstrated to us that:
Vaccines cause autism.
Climate change is a hoax because winters are still cold.
Trade war is hurting China badly, but we’re doing just fine.
And, did you see Alabama got hit by a hurricane!
4
Trump's comment about lowering interest rates when he criticized the Fed's lowering of rates as a stimulous after the Bush meltdown as "...creating a false economy to help Obama." :
He commiserated, "And you know the people who are hurt the most are people that saved all their lives, and thought they were going to live off the interest. Those people are getting absolutely creamed."
And further explained, "...the Fed's work to keep interest rates artificially low benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor."
He seems to not understand that the US government is not one of his failing companies that he can renege on paying his investors and claim another bankruptcy.
Time for another tax cut for the rich?
8
Trump must be massively into Russian lenders and co-signers...
8
A high percentage of the people he picks is, according to him, stupid. disloyal, untrustworthy, or a combination. If so, who does that reflect upon? Anyone who still believes he's worthy of running anything more consequential than a backyard lemonade stand is the real bonehead.
Oh yeah, we just had a serious economic crisis due to overlending to overaggressive developers and consumers who couldn't save money and couldn't regulate their itch to overborrow. Let's do it again!
9
Not that he will benefit at all. What are a few millions of dollars in adjustable rate loans after all. Pathetic, transparent man.
2
Please ask the question: how do lower interest rates benefit Trump’s businesses? As I understand it, lower interest rates could save Trump millions of dollars a month in payments on his debt. Why aren’t we hearing more about his self dealing as it relates to the Fed?
7
Please help a non-banker understand how you get the banking system to offer no interest loans or negative interest loans and stay in business. These are for-profit ventures. Are taxpayers going to be asked offset their losses? Is free money really a ‘thing’. Sign me up.
1
Trump and his company have a truckload of outstanding adjustable rate loans. That is why he is so eager for the Fed to lower the rates.
4
@Rosie. OK... I get that, but who picks up the tab for interest free loans? Honest question.
1
Trump is only concerned for himself. He cares little to nothing for anything else, unless it engenders support and loyalty from you. The sooner you realize you are a disposable tool, the better off you’ll be.
4
The real "boneheads" are everyone watching these antics and to not know that they are this president's attempts to get reelected by any means regardless of consequence. The emperor has spoken. What will you do?
4
It takes a bonehead to call his hand-picked nominee a bonehead.
6
Trump has a borrower mindset. Borrowers benefit from low interest rates. Investors and savers are hurt from low interest rates.
Once again, Trump does not understand the difference between being president and running real estate business (financed by borrowings and bankruptcies).
4
The bully pulpit at work. The Fed reserve should stand it’s ground. Their independence is paramount. Trump’s “monkey see, monkey do” approach is poor judgment.
3
Every time I see, hear, or read about Donald Trump, I want to throw up.
He's a disgrace and an embarrassment to all Americans and the rest of the world.
The only "bonehead" here is Donald J. Trump.
This seriously impaired megalomaniac is unhinged and extremely dangerous.
His removal from office is imperative. Our survival depends on it.
11
Oh, rates below zero would be favorable to Trump's yearly Trillion Dollar Deficit.
You own it Trump!
2
tRump SHOULD BE attacking the BANKS. Even with the Fed rate being ZERO credit card charges are still in the 15-30% range, and mortgage rates still high.
The banks have had enough of a free ride -
2
Thanks Republican congressmen.
2
THe biz genius who lost over a billion in a decade ,filed 6 bankruptcies,paid 25 million for fraud case,has been involved in over 3000 lawsuits is giving advice on the economy to professionals that should be free from political pressure. Trump who claims to be a genius on every subject is a lying blowhard living on his daddy's 400 million he inherited. Trump lies all the times stiffs contractors and banks no one but a Russian mobster would do biz with him or a bank loan cosigned by one.
6
Let’s be clear - lowering the interest rate will do nothing for credit card holders - it’s Wall Street and corporations who profit.
6
Not appropriate language for the President of the USA to use and insulting your own staff, government employees, is psychological abuse.
I had to do a web search to find out what 'boneheads' meant; and it means numbskull or stupid person.
3
I think we all know who the bonehead is.
14
The Bonehead-in-Chief, projecting again and again.
6
There is only one bonehead.
6
When will he learn that publicly name calling and shaming domestic and foreign high level officials may not be the best way to get what he wants?
Bull in a China shop. I cannot imagine having him over to meet the folks.
1
Donald trump is a fool. But not nearly as foolish as the people who elected him.
16
So the Fed is supposed to take advice from a guy that couldn't run a casino and thinks of bankruptcy as a business tool. What will it take to make him just go away?
7
LOCK HIM UP!
And for the love of God, somebody please take away his phone and Twitter account. Enough of this dreadful reality show.
6
In Trump's world, everybody is a bonehead except him. Even his supporters qualify--he would never, ever, in his life, ever sit down to a meal in the home of one of his supporters. I spent a life time doing that--it is my family, and I loved them all.
But they are beneath him. In his private moments he thinks of them as boneheads too--too dumb to figure him out. Their sole purpose is to clap for him.
7
What's in it for President Trump? Follow the money.
3
Will no one rid us of this turbulent president?
3
Spoken like “The King of Debt”.
Will his base approve? You bet & Barnum said it best: There’s a sucker born every day (And now they all vote Republican).
3
Ha ha ha ! What is the story here ? trump calling names ? Rate cut ? No one on earth would have believed America could sink so low so fast a generation ago .
2
The man has lost his mind. His narcissism and sociopathy are out of control. 25th now!
4
The only bonehead is the one attempting to politicize FED policy and attempting to destroy its credibility. This is not weather forecasting....
3
Looking for a fairy godmother.
1
My 19-year-old college sophomore nephew knows more about monetary policy than Donald Trump does. My nephew took Econ 101 as a freshman. And he paid attention.
5
Can we now assume that Donald Trump is ready to admit that his budget-busting tax cuts were not the economic stimulus he promised?
4
The Fed should raise rates, which is clearly needed to stop the giant bond bubble from growing ever larger.
1
He likes the idea of negative interest rates because he thinks this will somehow make his Trump Organization debt liabilities either shrink or disappear.
6
I see a lot of readers comments related to Trump promoting this action to enrich himself. While he is certainly guilty of using his presidential powers to enrich himself through many other actions, I firmly believe that this 100% related to his 2020 election. If the economy slows or we enter a recession, his chances for re-election are significantly reduced, if not eliminated. He knows there is little he can do to effect the economy, but one which always has a positive short term effect is lower interest rates. That and the additional tax breaks will have a similar short term effect. He cares not of course what negative long term it may have, or the increase in the already ballooned deficit, he cares for one thing only, a continuation of a strong economy and rising stock market. What longer lasting damage is done matters not. It’s all about winning in 2020.
1
@crosbyk trump knows nothing about anything.
3
Madness at the highest level. Zero or negative rates indicate no demand for money as an economy collapses. Eurozone has already printed so much that money itself can not be valued beyond current purchases.
5
Our bull in the china shop continues to leave a mess wherever he goes, whatever he does.
The interest rate cuts Trump is demanding have demonstrably terrible optics, given how much his company, The Trump Organization, will benefit from those rate cuts. This will be a feeding frenzie in the shark pen for Trump and the real estate development industry in particular.
But let's remember, the Obama administration — who inherited The Great Recession from Bush43 — needed to cut interest rates to get the recovery started. With the real possibility of another major recession, sooner than later, the Fed will have nowhere to go but negative territory on interest.
With Trump treating the Fed Chairman like his personal CFO, any mechanism to bring the country out of a recession will be hampered by the lack of wiggle room on those interest rates.
2
I’d like to borrow $10 million and be paid for it. Where do I sign?
7
Trump has millions and millions in variable interest rate debt. This will save him a lot of money, and that is what matters to him. And re-election to keep him out of jail so he needs a booming economy even if it's a fake boom.
2
Great presidential minds discuss ideas, mediocre presidential minds discuss events, small, inferior, presidential minds discuss people and call them names.
2
@invisibleman4700 And there is trump who falls below all of your categories.
What is he hiding about his corporate and personal indebtedness?
@JM Russian money laundering and tax evasion
2
Trump should stick to talking about the weather. He can't get into any trouble that way, right?
4
My advice would be: If Trump wants it, it's wrong. Do just the opposite and you will be fine. The guy is an expert at driving businesses into bankruptcy. We don't need a bankrupt country.
2
Would you take financial advice from a man whose first answer to financial problems has always been "borrow from daddy"?
2
Curious to know what the Trump Organization stands to gain from this.
2
Any chance the not particularly credit worthy Trump corporation would benefit from lower rates ?
The graph is misleading. The FED cannot set long term (10year) bonds rates. These rates are determined by the market. Many times in the past when the FED set the target for short term rates in one direction, long term rates moved in the opposite direction.
Lower long term rates mean that bonds speculators do not think the economy is going to do so hot in the long run.
The only reason he wants zero, or negative rates, is to get cheap loans, and to rip off the financial system by later declaring bankruptcy as he has done in the past.
1
Mr, Trump, senior citizens are an increasingly large percentage of the electorate. For the past *decade* the Fed has put economic pressure on this group in the form of nominal interest rates on retirement savings. If you advocate a continuation of this policy you will find much less support at the voting booth in 2020.
2
"Mr. Trump’s economic advisers are also scheduled to meet on Wednesday to continue discussing ways to push through more tax cuts"
To finish the sentence , "to further benefit the 1% who got the $800 billion of Trump`s 1st tax cut."
America , you are better than the Trump-Kushner crime family …………. aren`t you ??
4
When the next recession starts, one of the tools that the Fed could use to soften it, is to lower interest rates.
So how does that work if interest rates are at or below zero?
With interest rates where they are now (very low by historic standards), are there truly that many viable projects that are not being started because the cost of money is too high?
This is just the beginning. Trump is watching the polls.
Trump knows the economy is slowing. Trump knows he cannot get another tax cut through congress to re-stimulate the economy. Trump knows if he cannot get "juice" into the economy in the next two to three months, the economy will be showing more significant signs of a slow down about the time of Super Tuesday. These are all the things he knows. The only thing he has left is to bully, whine and threaten the Fed to do what he now desperately needs politically. And, Trump knows how to do that.
The Fed know it must hold strong as they have a clear understanding of what they need to do to best help this economy avoid a recession. To knowingly engage in economic maleficence simply cannot and will not happen on the part of the Fed.
We all know Trump will keep up this barrage of panic for the foreseeable future. We also know that it will only get worse.
5
Trump either has a soft spot for thirty years of stagflation such as the Japanese people endured following their governments's failed attempt to promote massive industrial retooling through lowering interest rates to negative values - or, more likely, some take no prisoners libertarian over at Fox&Friends has been busy filling the president's head with the notion that the federal government once and for all needs to get out of the business of regulating excesses in the economy. If the Fed caves to Trump it will be 1929 again, only without the top hats.
2
Long-term interest rates are the lowest they’ve been in 40 years, maybe ever.
And the Fed does not control them; they are a function of capitalism.
As usual, Trump isn’t either gaslighting or has no idea what he’s talking about.
2
Yes, Trump’s economy is booming so much that we desperately need trillion dollar annual fiscal deficit spending and negative nominal interest rates.
No wonder he is responsible for more corporate bankruptcies than any other person in modern history.
Trump’s fake economy is built on sand.
6
Such "sound" financial advise from a guy who's never been successful in any business venture of his own.
And yet even more tax cuts are being considered. Is their ultimate goal to run this country into the ground?
Any time an administration decides to meet with economic advisers and call their meeting “tax cuts 2.0”, I get worried and nervous.
"Voodoo economics" did nothing but harm our economy. This new notion, “tax cuts 2.0” sounds like some kind of evil spawning or variation on a disastrous theme.
7
You’d have to ask Vladimir Putin, but I’m going to guess, yes, their ultimate goal is to run this country into the ground.
Trump created our new debt, fought hard for it.
"Mr. Trump’s request is extraordinary for several reasons."
Yes, it is. Most notably for the way our media allow him a free pass on his roll in creating the deficit he pretends to worry over.
Now, in another move to make the rich vastly richer, he wants to pay his Buds for taking huge loans and pocketing the negative interest.
I can't afford any more of his wise management.
Where are the headlines? Where is the outraged press?
8
Let’s see what happens when banks decide there’s no good reason for them to provide mortgages.
8
This is more proof that Trump only cares about himself and his reelection chances. He wants to "put the petal to the metal" on the economy by lowering rates so more people will get more mortgages so he can brag how he's improved the housing sector. The US is slowly inching toward another Sept. '08 with massive debt (government, corporate, and personal), less financial regulations, and lowered federal taxes to pay the government's bills. This will not have a happy ending especially if Trump wins reelection.
4
President Trump calling Fed interest rate setting committee members "boneheads" is troubling because he is urging the US Fed to join the "beggar thy neighbor" game to race the other countries' central banks setting lower interest rates to zero and going negative.
Already, the Fed is in "unchartered territory" of prolonged ultra low interest rates pushing rates to zero or negative would mean doing what EU and Japan have been doing the last 10 to 20 years, i.e. going nowhere.
Instead, President Trump should have been urging the Fed chairman to work with the other central bankers to coordinate all major economies' interest rates behind closed doors.
Well, only time will tell what his tweets will do to the interest rates.
3
How about Trump loans me a billion interest free? I’ll even throw in a personal guarantee.
16
Think - if Trump pushes this through he'll make a fortune in saved interest payments alone when he refinances his debts. He knows he stands an excellent chance of being voted out so he's going to get as much cash as possible now. His kids will refinance every debt he and they have.
His buddies (Sean Hannity comes to mind) will also make millions or more in saved payments.
Don't you wish you were able to live an extra 75 - 100 years so you can read what the history and poli-sci books write about this walking perversion?
14
He's right about this for once.
@Will - No he isn't.
1
Of course the professionals at the federal reserve are boneheads compared to a very stable genius! Just look at his brilliance forecasting the weather as well as the economy . . .
11
Negative rates. ?
2
waiting to see how the brown-nose editors at the WSJ defend this.
There is no reasoning, logic, fund of knowledge, or any type of decency that exists in Trump's brain. Everything he says is from a reptilian animalistic drive to startle and get a headline. There is no there there. He is a detriment to the country and the planet.
5
Melania needs to step up her anti-bullying campaign. Her husband continues to be anything but a “Be Best” role model.
9
Oh, boy...
1
Last year I stopped contributing to college fund funds for my grandchildren because these accounts were losing money. This is an act of stealing the futures from our children and grandchildren. Will student loans be granted refinancing probably not? I can take the hits of a bad economy, but what about our young people who have no reserves to hold their meager annuities, Roth accounts, and small bank accounts? Bankruptcy is just the beginning of this ugly downturn.
15
Trump appears to have reached his seventies without understanding that there are two sides to every economic problem. Low to negative interest rates are very detrimental to savers and retired people who have to live off the earnings from savings. With millions of baby boomers reaching retirement age when they have to live off the earnings of their 401K and other accounts, extremely low to negative interest rates harm a large portion of our population.
22
I guess it’s time then to take out a multi-million dollar loan as a new business! My kid’s lemonade stand needs to borrow $5000 for advertising and branding, and she’ll make mkney off that loan too. Sounds awesome!
I always enjoy reading the comments. We best remember that 40% of the American people are 100% supportive of the President and vote as a bloc. Those opposed live in a small number of states and can't agree on very much. Now who do you think is going to win the next election? Perhaps it is time to hit the streets and get the vote out. It's a long way between houses in Iowa and their vote counts a whole lot more in the House and Senate than one in California. It's a numbers and Electoral college game. Dems are lousy at math.
7
I was reading in John Farrell’s excellent bio of Nixon that Nixon actually berated the head of the Fed, Arthur Burns, in person in the lead up to the 1972 to keep rates low as well.
Burns recounted that “The president looked wild; talked like a desperate man...released a torrent of resentment against me. I am convinced that the President will do anything to be re-elected....There were moments during this meeting when I felt the President was going mad....I left with a deeply troubled mind.”
Nixon had remembered that the Fed raised rates just prior to the ‘60 election and he blamed that tight money policy in part for costing him the election; Nixon also pumped money into the economy by taking the US off the gold standard.
Burns was understandably worried about the effects of all that money in the economy on prices, inflation, etc. for which he instituted wage and price controls. When they ended and the artificial controls were removed, massive inflation took over.
Thought it was interesting to see some precedent for a president being vocal about what the Fed should do lest it affect their re-election odds.
7
@Jack However, as I recall, even President Nixon did not make his rantings against the Fed public.
2
How is your headline not that the president, who is actively running his real estate company, wants zero interest rates b/c his real estate company stands to gain massively from them.
16
Negative interest rates sound amazing! That would be such a help for those with student loans, or other insurmountable debt. You actually pay back less than what you borrowed, and the longer you take to pay it off, the less you pay! All at the expense of the big banks. Brilliant. Trump is turning out to be quite the socialist after all.
6
Why doesn’t Trump just take a Sharpie and change the rate to whatever voodoo economics point he thinks it should be?
16
He's trying to make sure the dow continues to rise because, if it falls off the cliff, he's out of a job.
6
Not sure why this article didn't mention this, but Europe has negative interest rates because they have negative GDP. Last quarter, when we had 2.0, they were negative 0.5 or so. You don't go to negative rates when the economy is doing well -- unless you're a grifter looking to cut your personal loan rates.
16
Why would anybody take finance advice from a man who has bankrupted multiple companies, does not understand tariffs and lies evey hour of the day? In addition, I'd really like to see his college transcript; because it is hard to believe that anybody this manifestly inept could have a degree in business.
15
Pretty sure trump hired someone to be student in his place while he dallied; probably stiffed him or her (probably a her; probably not a ten) after graduation
2
I really find it impossible to understand how working class people support this guy. Index capital gains taxes? Really? That’s what he’s planning?
8
@Mark Marks
Most people probably don't understand what capital gains taxes are and what indexing them means.
7
If trump is so worried about the debt maybe he should be concerned about adding 1 trillon a year to it.talks about tax breaks to buy votes & giveing tax breaks to the wealthest 2%. all the while hurricane surivors left to fend for themselves. Some people just cant grasp reality. Will america be #7 bankruptcy before he walks away from yet another of his failures?
4
I think its time to ban Twitter. Seriously, what would happen if Twitter didn't exist?
10
@Lisa The world would be a lot saner.
1
??? So, I didn't read thoroughly, is this what he's asking??? I picked up lower than 0 interest rates... then we negotiate with other countries who we owe, to lower their rates, then we have good interest rates to repay. Seriously? I have to re read this... NO ONE, is going to reduce the money we owe... would you????
3
Negative interests rates equal 'game over... thank you for playing...'
4
Oh please! Just pay the interest due on all those many, many loans you have, Mr. Trump! Everyone knows all your belly aching towards the Feds is completely self serving!
13
Remember just three years ago when all the GOP talking suits were assuring people that Trump would ‘shift’ into presidential mode?
Did they really expect that or was it just what sounded good at the time? If I were a journalist I’d see if I could get those folks to explain, or at least get a ‘no comment’ from their staffs. Clearly they were bold-faced lying or had no idea what sort of man they’d nominated for president. Never trust the GOP again. Never.
5
Honestly, maybe Donald just has some business loans he's desperate to refinance at lower rates.
7
"Their goal is to reduce borrowing costs for households and companies to encourage spending. But they come at a cost, curbing bank profitability."
Oh, the horror! Reduced profit for banks and the investor class.
There are about 1001 reasons to disagree with Trump on this and about 1001 other issues. Reducing bank profits is not one of them
Most U.S. bonds are generating negative realized yields once you factor in the inflation rate of 1.8% over the trailing 12-month period.
Trump just wants to juice the stock market so he can brag about it in front of a stadium of dunces in red hats.
10
High domestic interest rates increase international demand for the dollar, strengthening our currency. A stronger currency allows the US to import more for less, which would generally be seen as a good thing... Unless you don't understand trade deficits and think us buying more (from anywhere, not just China) is a bad thing.
2
Negative rates, or zero rates make perfect sense and absolutely should be done for one specific area: student loans.
Students SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PAY INTEREST!!
It makes no sense. Why should the government earn a return from loaning money to students? It makes the students' lives so much harder when they graduate. Interest prevents students from making the necessary investments in their lives. Interest serves no productive purpose in the area of student loans. Risk plays no role, so the government needn't be compensated for risk; therefore there is no justification for interest.
Do you think Trump and the Republicans will do that sensible thing that will help ordinary folks?
No way. If it doesn't help the plutocrats they will not do it.
1
The economy is great but let’s take drastic measures to correct it
America is doing great but there’s carnage.
It’s all fake news but I was a TV star and need you to talk about me constantly, Cough cough NY Times.
A storm will hit Alabama, someday.
“I’m the chosen one.”
Lots of people are saying so. Tremendous, beautiful people.
Bravo! Thumbs up Donnie. Roy would be so proud.
7
@SN thanks for making me laugh on an otherwise grim day.
1
Coverage of this story is woefully incomplete insofar as it fails to address the significant impact a drop to negative interest rates would have on all of Donald Trumps' debt-laden business ventures. A drop to negative interest rates would result in immediate gains in the wealth of of the President.
7
@MB Thompson
I would not be surprised if Trump, a person who's "wealth" basically consists of loans, believes his loans will start paying themselves with negative interest. However, I guess a negative interest rate would not automatically transfer to his loans since the point of negative interest is to make it more expensive for banks to "park" money and with that encourage them to lend out more money.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-economy-centralbanks-explainer/explainer-how-does-negative-rate-policy-work-idUSKCN1VW1UX
1
I agree with the president. Whoever picked this bonehead Jerome Powell should be fired!
18
European policymakers are cutting rates below zero because their economies are in the ditch, but according to Trump we have the best economy ever right? So why would we need to do this?
3
There's not really any difference between "America First" and "America Alone".
4
The only "bonehead" on this subject is the one doing the name calling. Something tells me that the Fed Reserve Board, each of whom could run circles around Trump in regards to economics and monetary policy in their sleep, are reading the news and saying to themselves "Really?? We're the boneheads?"
There is zero need for this except to goose his lagging poll numbers and help his failing businesses to borrow more money cheaply (before his/their next bankruptcy filing)
10
What would he have said if it wasn’t 9/11?
His disregard for those murdered that day, the absence of thanks to first responders then and now, and his general disrespect for American institutions is astounding!
9
Donald Trump, the needy, lying, know-nothing, six-times-bankrupt, spend-daddy's-money "businessman" is the greatest danger now facing the US economy. End of story.
12
"Trump Calls for Fed's 'Boneheads' to Slash Interest Rates Below Zero"
Other things that are "below zero":
- Trumps credibility
- Jared & Ivanka's ability
- Percentage respect Trump has for Donald Jr. and Eric
- Number of Republicans with spine
- Former members of Trump's administration who'd say "That went pretty well"
- Number of friends Stephen Miller has
13
He is intellectually challenged. He is dangerous. But the GOP are cowards as they allow him to undermine all our institutions of Government that we need to be non- political, from the Federal Reserve to the NOAA to the FBI, etc, etc. Our enemies are smiling as he destroys our Democracy.
18
Trump doesn’t know enough about economics to make a compound sentence! Everyday he demonstrates his ignorance.
7
God help us.
9
When is Twitter going to ban @realDonaldTrump?
6
As they used to say in Brooklyn schoolyards, it takes one to know one.
5
More projection from our illegitimate president.
5
Trump to America: “Savers are Losers!”
8
Jeez! Once upon a time, borrowers paid interest on the money that was loaned to them, and bankers paid depositors a savings rate to get them to store their money at their bank. With negative interest rates, it's the other way around. Crazy, eh? The bank charges you for parking your money with them, and borrowers are being paid for borrowing. Somehow, I don't think this is good for anyone's 401k. Or for anyone with a savings account. And yes, of course, Trump owes millions to Deutsche Bank, so this is a policy that would be exceptionally beneficial to him.
13
This rate decrease will help Trump in repayment of his massive loans.
8
Mr Trump's only aim is to remain in power. This outburst also is a testament to that. No tangible contribution to the US , shallow thinking, poor knowledge about almost everything and blurting out whatever comes to his mind are the hallmark of this President. Need sensible Americans to counter him. At least British are challenging Boris Johnson. Nothing of that sort in the horizon in America.
7
So Trump wants the Fed to zero out the interest rate? Good for him. In one fell swoop (if they actually capitulate) he gets:
1) to get even with all those big, bad bankers who wouldn’t lend to the Trump Organization;
2) to renegotiate Trump Organization loans;
3) give the economy a false push toward election day 2020;
4) and gets to say, again, “It’s not my fault the Treasury debt wasn’t refinanced,” by blaming it on the Fed, Congress, the EU, the Chinese and the fake news.
Of course, if the Fed refuses to drop the interest rate to less than zero, he can blame a weakening economy on the “boneheads,” the banks, the EU, the Chinese and the fake news.
Another win-win tweet for the stable genius.
7
Trump owes millions to lenders like Deutchebank. He has to service those loans by paying the interest. So, Trump personally benefits from lower interest rates. The King of Corruption does it again.
8
Remember, Republicans are for big business.
Banks get to use my money while I get a miniscule interest rate. CD rates have dropped. How many times have I heard that you should have six months of expenses or more in savings. The money sits there and you don't make squat on it.
Now Trump wants a zero interest rate.
Some of us don't buy and sell stocks to make a killing. We don't have resources to buy real estate as investments. We are the little guys. We have 401ks, cds, and savings.
11
Many Republicans are truly ignorant of the way things actually work. They prefer to exist and operate in their bubble of semi-libertarian, anti-social theory that says they are ‘good’ and all others are ‘bad.’ The problem is this theory has been proven wrong time and again, but they still believe it - so gullible and uninformed.
2
The man who gave the world his "easy to win" trade war, now wants to control monetary policy? Why would the Federal Reserve listen to anything Trump as to say about interest rates at this point? His tax policies have driven up the national debt by trillions, and his trade policy is crushing American consumers and exporters. Our nation is a laughing stock and a danger to the entire world. Trump needs to go.
5
"Norms" that allow political leadership to condense power and disgrace the U.S. need to be codified.
No more deference to any ideas of decency. If you want to be president, governor, senator....you must follow rules.
1
I'd like to hear the thoughts of Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner on an interest rate of zero -- or "below zero" . . .
5
Going after the Fed is just more sleight-of-hand from Donald Trump, whose disastrous tariffs and trade wars are slowing the world economy.
4
How do you bankrupt casinos, where customers hand you money for literally nothing? This. This is how.
America is getting exactly what we paid for in 2016.
9
The president knows NOTHING about economics, meteorology, sciences, history, research, facts......the list is endless. I cannot believe we are living through such insanity.
11
The strategy of borrowing dough you don't really need, just to keep the frat party going -- at least through November 2020 -- makes sense only if you don't plan on ever repaying the loans.
Not repaying loans is the cornerstone of Trump's griftocracy. Fellow boneheads, be afraid. Be very afraid.
12
I taught my kids not to indulge in name calling.
4
You probably also taught them how to “think” rationally.
2
In August 2015, trump said disparaging Obama, “When you hit $24 trillion, and we’re going to be there very soon, because it’s building up very quickly . . . when we hit that $24 trillion number, we become Greece on steroids,”
Newsflash: trump will hit $24 trillion by the 2020 election. And trump did not have to deal with the subprime financial meltdown.
Now trump says that the Fed should lower the rate to zero and then “…we should then start to refinance our debt,” adding that “the USA should always be paying the lowest rate” (trump). trump is playing the old shell game – one of his true skill sets: outright lying.
Trump is using shame to coerce the Fed into lowering the rates and as a result, the interest on the national debt would be lower. Then trump, pounding his chest, would claim that he’s reduced the national debt – viola!
Meanwhile, trump will continue to spend money faster than a drunken sailor (no offense meant to sailors): misappropriating funds for his wall, endless golfing weekends at his personal resorts, flying to North Korea for a handshake, all the while lying to the public.
9
Now we see why Trump didn’t keep Yellen as Fed chair. He has a problem jeering women, with Pocahontas the only exception. He still doesn’t know how to handle Pelosi. Men he can ridicule all day long.
1
Ever been bankrupt? Me either but here's your road map...
3
Are we ready to impeach yet?
4
This is how the dollar ceases to be the world's 'reserve currency.'
"No puppet. No puppet. You're the puppet."
--Donald J. Trump
4
The only 'Boneheads' under this tent is Trump.
4
Two trueisms for Trump in this scenario:
It takes one to know one.
Give him a inch, he'll take a mile.
3
Jul 19, 2016 · "Debt Load. Trump’s debt almost doubled, to an estimated $630 million from $350 million, as he drew down on a $170 million line of credit from Deutsche Bank AG for a hotel" Bloomberg .
Dec 12, 2016 · "Trump’s loans with Ladder Capital include: $160 million for a loan related to Trump’s 40 Wall Street office tower . Trump took out the mortgage in 2015 to replace a similar loan … One big issue with Trump’s loans from Ladder Capital is that he appears to be personally liable for at least $26 million of the debt." Mother Jones
2016 "Fortune identified the loans Trump has on these other buildings that are not included on his released balance sheet. Add to the loans and mortgages he does disclose and Fortune has determined that Trump’s total debt balloons to nearly $1 billion, or about double what he specifically acknowledges he owes." Shawn Tully
5
I question the value of negative interest rates when the economy is doing well. I question the affect of tax cuts as hurricane season is not over and tens of millions of americans are leaving the workforce. a companies value should be based on its product and not on stock buy backs based on borrowed money. there is a bubble being created that will be burst and tax payers will be hit by another bank that is too big to fail.
4
Concerning the "boneheads" at the Fed, a friend remarked, "You know Nixon had that tape full of ugly words, and it was a big scandal when it was played in public?" "Uh huh," I replied. "Well," he said, "it's as if Trump has a tape like that, but he just plays it out loud every day."
6
The Fed primarily serves banking interests, in great part, because those interests basically control the Fed. But come on man, how can anyone take seriously the opinion of someone who was going to appoint Herman Cain and Stephen Moore to the Fed's board? Knuckleheads all...
5
While I do no understand the reason for a negative interest rate, I can hear Hamilton rolling in his grave.
5
Since the average American is $38,000 in debt, I actually think this isn't that bad an idea, whether it came from Trump or not. In fact, I strongly believe that sustaining negative interest rates for a good number of years would go a long way to reversing some of the extreme inequality that is consuming the developed world. It would be in effect, a stealth Universal Basic Income.
@Jeff
The debt you speak of is locked in at a fixed rate
Pushing interest rates on DEPOSITS to under zero does nothing to alleviate the debt burden and is more likely to exacerbate inequality than reduce it
8
@Jeff
It is the reduction in interest rates that contributed significantly to extreme inequality to begin with. The super low interest rates inflated financial assets like real estate and stocks like wildfire, while incomes for ordinary people improved little, if any.
The best way to stimulate the economy now is to embark on a big infrastructure program that will create jobs and give us improved physical assets.
6
And a lot of us just above drowning in debt would soon be...
The economy is great, so says Trump. But we need economic stimulus, so says Trump. For the love of God, please, for once, Mr. Trump, make up your mind and stick to it. The bats circling inside your head are making me nauseous.
8
Trump knows nothing about finance, as he lifelong career has shown us. He has messed around with tariffs, and otherwise put our country on a losing economic footing. He should remove the tariffs, repair our relationships with our allies abroad and keep his nose and his twitter out of the Federal Reserve.
151
@Karen
He should but those things will never happen.
6
@Karen
The non-stop criticism of Trump, no matter what he does, is getting so lazy. Really, he knows nothing about finance? How many towers are out there with your name on them? And sorry if you don't like the tariffs, but American workers are tired of politicians signing free trade deals that send their jobs to Mexico or China. Trump's the first and only President to buck that trend.
1
@Karen Cancer drugs were held from the US by China during this trade war. Soon they will hold other drugs and cause worse drugs shortage in the US.
4
Zero or negative interest rates would certainly serve the interests of the Trump Organization which is carrying $125,000,000 worth of debt with Deutsche Bank, on the Doral Resort alone.
5
The Federal Reserve Act established three key objectives for the Federal Reserve System: maximize employment, stabilize prices, and moderate long term interest rates. By any rational measure the Fed has met those objectives in the face of mounting fiscal and trade policy failures on the part of the current administration. The insult was clearly misdirected.
4
The full picture emerging now is of the Wizard Trump, toying feverishly with various mechanisms, including the Federal Reserve, to do anything possible to appear to be in control.
Hopefully, soon the curtain will finally and firmly be pulled back to reveal that the Wizard has no idea what he is doing.
One of many questions is: What is going to happen following all these financial maneuvers and games when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac prove that they are no more prepared for the next round of fragile mortgages than they were in 2008.
I really look forward to paying my bank to hold my money in a CD!
5
Our PINO will stop at nothing, including destruction of the long term strength of our economy, to get himself re-elected.
This is Trump's version of pump-and-dump played with a nation's economy (and not just any economy, the largest in the world ... for the moment).
After his attempts to bully J Powell fail, to what will he next turn? Our nation and the world are in for a very bumpy ride through November 2020.
2
Goes without saying that dropping interest rates below zero is a massive giveaway to real estate interests and large debt holders.
7
Sugar-rushing the economy to buy himself votes for another four years of legal invulnerability. There's nothing he won't vandalize, pillage, or rip down to defend himself.
3
Ironically, he is calling for measures that are typically employed to shore up faltering economies while proclaiming our economy is strong...
So crazy, signs of recession looming, and he's throwing away the tools we would use to deal with one in exchange for a sugar high to finance his disastrous trade policy.
So, now we pay more today to import the same old stuff we imported yesterday, but with no value added, AND pay farmers who have lost export markets, maybe for good, adversely affected by the inevitable retaliation.
When does it stop!?
6
As Ron says to end the FEDS. I have silver dollar coins my grandfather gave to me at different times in the early 70s. He said, they may be worth something someday. As a kid, this was a kind act to teach me to save and the value of money. Well, perhaps America could use a good dose of not to spend and save.
And, the middle class to upper-class salaries have made a stride to increase pay as of the last 18 months, however because of the price of groceries and gas that the salary increase does not count the cost of inflation, especially the cost of gas when we are seeing good lows per barrel. Even the increase at WHOLEFOODS as an hourly wage at 15.00 per hour puts a person or couple looking at barely making it if at all at 32,000.00 per year! We are seeing gross negligence by corporate America if you are not at the management level.
2
But I thought this administration claims that the economy is great! Isn't it the best economy ever in history? Why is Trump concerned about the debt now, after he and his fellow Republicans passed a trillion-dollar tax cut? Why does he want the Fed to institute a policy usually reserved for recessions? Is he panicking over all of the bad decisions regarding trade wars and tariffs he's made? Or finally seeing that his giant tax cut is actually harming the country? You know he and his buddies are gunning for your Social Security and Medicare, don't you?
15
If the Banks take no interest, how do the Banks survive ? Only the big and small borrowers will benefit. Big borrowers will end up benefitting many times more than small borrowers. It only amounts to helping big business in a big way.
Negative interest rates means what ? If I understand correctly those invest money in the Banks will get no money. Perhaps they will be penalised for investing and the borrowers will be paid interest. Big borrowers in any case will gain much since they end up getting more interest for having taken big loan from the Banks.
1
Let's pay rich people to borrow money (negative interest rates) to stimulate the economy that is being wrecked by the trade war because the 'boneheads' at the Fed can't figure out that the economic downturn Cannot be Trump's fault, so it must be theirs. Our Feckless Leader strikes again.
11
How many times has the Federal Reserve declared bankruptcy? Just wondering, no reason.
10
I give him credit for being relentless. Zero credit for grasping the realities of his position.
8
"....savers are penalized and borrowers rewarded."
Enough said. Look no further for Trump's motivation.
15
Based on Trump's understanding of economic policy and the fact that three of his children graduated form UPenn as well, can we assume that TrumpU = UPenn?
8
I still haven' heard a mea culpa from Wharton for having graduated this disaster.
22
Trump did say he would run America like he did his businesses. Six bankruptcies the US will be his seventh.
17
Whoever it was that appointed that "bonehead" Jay Powell needs to resign from whatever role he (or she) currently holds.
10
"Boneheads."
Such an erudite President you have. Truly a class act.
8
@LauraF
Careful there, "you" does not include me. He's not my president, never has been, never will be. And you can be certain there are millions of "us".
4
@Strider
We know. And we sympathize.
And to whom
somewhere behind this latest piece of ignorance lie massive ethics and conflict of interest violations, but that's just par for the course for trump. there is only one bonehead in this latest missive, and it isn't jay powell.
5
Why no detailed explanation about Trump's demand to 'refinance the debt'? That's the real whopper and it's not even mentioned after his quote demanding it.
The fact our president believes that the US Treasury debt can be 'refinanced' is astonishing and needs to be highlighted. It's completely impossible and something that he just made up because he thinks it sounds good. Why isn't THAT more of a problem? His interest rate request is bonkers too, but at least it's actually something that's real and possible, not made up in his head to sound good.
9
If we reasonably look at this whole matter, which is not possible on the pages of NYT which has one and only one function, which is to attack Trump by all means and with all weapons/tools, then we will see that other economies have been doing such things, and that their action will necessarily negatively affect the USA. Not that we have to do do what they do but we should pay close attention and act accordingly, which is why the call for lowering the rates is valid.
Besides, we are competing with the currency manipulators (Xi), as well as the countries which import minimally and export maximally (Deutschland) so balancing the field via the interest rates is certainly a legit thought.
@ss Can you elaborate with some details regarding your idea to 'balance the field' with interest rates? Because from what I can tell it comes from a complete lack of understanding of how our monetary system works, but I'm not an expert, hence my hope you could explain in some detail?
4
@ss Maybe you should apply to be the next head of the Fed, or the Treasury for that matter.
2
So, become the countries trump dumps on regularly? If you can’t beat them, be them?
1
The world’s rush to economic oblivion is fast approaching. Everyone is placing all their bets on the almighty stock market. Basic economic theory of supply and demand is being destroyed by the print press money people. Eventually, hyperinflation will take hold, money will be worthless and calls to return to the gold standard will evolve. People with real estate empires will continue to grow in physical wealth and influence as people pay to lend them money.
2
If Trump really wants to do what other countries are doing, perhaps he could start with health care.
17
......He concluded by calling Mr. Powell, whom he nominated to head the central bank in 2017, and his colleagues “Boneheads.”
There will never be another President of the United States who shows so little understanding of truth, honor, integrity, or respect for those who have legitimately earned their role in life.
15
At this rate of further escalating and damaging tweets and ever increasing economic and political uncertainty caused by Trump, I hereby request - as a concerned US citizen - that Article 25 be invoked by the the House and Senate together. REMOVE Trump!
Yes, Mitch, the "ball" is in your corner.
4
@Michael Kenny and in the end Pence becomes President? I'll pass.
The relevant question is, what's in it for Trump?
6
EVERYTHING he proposes is for his own personal gain.
10
I’m going out to borrow $10,000,000 to invest in a failing entity. Money will be cheap and the loaner will end up owing me money when the business fails. trumplogic, trumpfinance, trumpocracy.
7
On interest rates and inequality
In 2009 , the Federal Reserve set record low interest rates to deal with the fall out of the collapse of the housing market.
Mark Zuckerberg , being credit worthy, readily got his hands on it. He famously refinanced his $ 5 million Palo Alto home at 1%, below the rate of inflation
Paul Krugman, being credit worthy, could get his hands on it. He added $ 1.8 million dollar apartment on Riverside Drive in NYC as a pied a terre from his custom built house along a babbling brook in Princeton, and his beach home in St. Croix.
Ordinary home owners, with underwater mortgages, not being credit worthy, could not get their hands on it. They lost their homes.
Moral
Low credit rates benefit the credit worthy, that is the rich. They do not benefit the non credit worthy
The result: Ever increasing inequality
7
He can't seem to find a bottom to hit. I'd hoped that this one day, the one that unites the entire country in grief, would be a day that he could manage to feign Presidential behavior. But he just can't manage his own behavior. Sending stupid self-involved tweets about polling, the Fed, disparaging citizens of this country--- on this day is just obscene. Can't imagine that anyone could defend this behavior, but they will.
242
@Sandy
Don't forget that he had nary a concerned word for the people of the Bahamas but instead focused his attention and that of the cabinet and several governmental agencies on managing his image & understanding of the facts concerning Dorian & Alabama leading to the scandalous Sharpygate. Truly a (Trumpy) world without end...
p.s. negative interest rates? really? and this is a Republican?
23
@k martino
He called them bad people who shouldn't be let in to America while they have had their homes and infrstructure destroyed! It's hardly that he doesn't have a concerned word - he has negative words and actions.
9
@Sandy See the recent articles re/trump and TV. All he knows is TV and his "reality" show persona. He will never stop looking for new lows because he has to keep shocking, constantly. It is the only way to feed the beast.
5
It is more than that. Everyone seems to pay their respects to climate change as an issue, while failing to understand the human economic activity is the primary cause. Lower interest rates only promotes the irresponsible behavior that brought us to this point. The global economy needs to slow down, we need to refactor value. As long as we debate this stupid, selfish gaming of natural resources, we will accelerate toward global catastrophe no bank will be able to help with.
2
So.. those of us who actually save money in bank accounts should loan our money to the banks for free (or pay them for the privilege), so they can use our money and profit from issuing mortgages, car loans, investing in the stock market, etc. Nice. It would be easier to stash my cash under my mattress like people did during the Great Depression.
3
Or invest it on the stock market. Or create a new business so any profits can be captured by you...
Bankruptcy is Trump's favorite financial tool. He has grown the deficit so much that we need to take this action? How about undoing his ill-advised tax legislation?
8
don't do it. simply don't do it... in Europe we are facing more and more problems with this below zero rates. only ones getting benefits out of such are all the Trumps in the world
8
The Commerce Department's sole job now is to toe the Trump line. At lot of important agencies are under that umbrella. It's not just the weather service.
And now, is the Fed next?
Once Trump gets his little fingers into that big cookie jar over at the Fed, the next president will have to spend their entire term prying them out.
5
He's the expert on monetary policy, just like he's the expert on weather forecasting. Maybe he'll take a sharpie to the next inflation report.
Honestly, republicans, is there no limit to what you will support him on and put the rest of us through?!
9
Regardless of how much you hate trump or love trump, I have to say he is very smart. By constantly putting pressure on the feds. The fed won't try to pull the carpet underneath him just like they did to many other presidents to create the cycle. Now YET to be seen is whether free money and zero interest rate can break the economic cycle.
Reading that zero interest hurts savers and helps borrowers told me all I needed to know. Trump has borrowed his way to the White House...
12
Jerome Powell, if he continues to counter the ignorant financial views of Trump, will deserve a Congressional Medal of Honor.
6
Soon he'll be demanding that they cut him a check
And the Times and CNN will yawn and say "it's bold moves like that which makes him the favorite in 2020"
2
trump's only interest is jacking up the market for the election. He doesn't care what happens after that. Just like everything else, he has no understanding of how the economy works.
7
So . . . will we be able to refinance student loans accordingly?
8
Trumps business regimen perfectly described: borrow,borrow, borrow. Wheedle, whine, cajole and cheat when payment is due. Trump is a fraudster and wants to remake America in his image; over weight and massively untrustworthy.
7
So today the stock market zooms back up over 27,000 ! Success Donny !!
And somehow can you explain to me that this is NOT a manipulated market ?
4
@Werephahckt
See, Trump knew what he was doing! He just got my vote in 2020!
@RS
I’m sure he already had it
A quote to Jon Snow in Game of Thrones seems appropriate here.. "You know nothing, Donald Trump" -- who thinks he knows everything!
1
Trump is so desperate to pump up the declining economy that he would do anything conceived by his "giant brain's" total lack of economic understanding to help him try to keep his poll numbers from falling through the floor, as is now happening.
That deranged man has no clue of what harm he does to America. The more he does to harm us, the more he says he is helping. Too pathetic for words.
2
I can see the bumpter sticker now: "Trump 2020: Less Than Zero."
8
Trump’s desperation is becoming more obvious by the day. He knows the economy is slowing, and with it goes the stock market AND his chances of getting re-elected.
Make no mistake - this thug will do ANYTHING to save his own skin and keep from going to jail by being re-elected - even if it means leaving our economy and political system in smoldering ruins!
Vote Democratic up and down the ticket in 2020 - it is the only way to save ourselves and teach Trump and the treasonous Republicans in Congress a lesson.
5
“...it is only the [naïveté ]of Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve that doesn’t allow us to do what other countries are already doing.”
We know Donald Trump did not write this. He probably doesn't know how to pronounce "naïveté". So; was it Stephen Miller, Steven Mnuchin; the remain Koch Bro or the American Enterprise Institute?
5
How much $$$ does t stand to make if he can get rates to fall?
2
I guess he has not looked at himself in the mirror.
1
Retirees all around the country should think carefully about voting for this idiot in 2020. Are you listening Floridians? When negative interest rates take money from senior citizens' retirement accounts perhaps his staunchest supporters will finally realize the damage to the country as well as the world at large this man is doing. This is getting personal for millions of people just like me. I can't afford another four years of Trump and Co. in the White House. Can you?
9
If interest rates fall below zero does this mean I can borrow a huge some of money and the bank will pay me interest on it. Are you sure this isn't one of AOC's initiatives?
1
AOC would never make suggestions as stupid as trump’s “smartest” ones. “Smartest” being relative to his other policy statements.
3
You have passed through the looking glass, and up is down, left is right, truth is lies. Well, according to your President anyway. But will give him credit for all his hard work to create a massive financial downturn (“biggest depression ever”).
3
Apparently, the king of borrowing/bankruptcy has a one track mind. I'm sure he and the swamp will benefit greatly from this move.
Another empire begins to crumble. Oh well......
3
Trump has always been a borrower and never in any way what could be called a qualified investor. He hasn't been authentically "bankable" in years. In the 80s he was famously insolvent enduring serial bankruptcies and spectacular losses. Hence, today, his call for crashing the banking system to further borrowing by the same cronies who were most favorably affected by the Republican tax cut. Revenue? What's that? His noise about loose money is merely that, the bleating of a parasite, whose businesses have depended for years on laundering money from Russian oligarchs posing as anonymous investors and buyers into his "properties."
3
If Trump Corporation can save a few million dollars on loans every time the Fed Powell lowers interest rates, why stop! You go Mr. President, remember, Moscow Mitch is always looking the other way.
4
Retirees dependent upon interest rate returns who have already been suffering will suffer more if this were to happen. Everyone should realize that extremely low/negative interest rates will only encourage further leveraging of companies, especially REAL ESTATE DEVELOPERS returning us to a very precarious position.
Of course, our president has already said he's not worried about the long term because it's "not his problem." Nope, but it is our problem.
8
Can someone please explain the difference between Trump claiming foreign governments manipulate their currencies down to help their exporters and Trump demanding negative rates which will depress the dollar to help exporters?
10
Well I think it's clear why Trump so ferociously protected his school transcripts from becoming public. I also think it's long past time to begin seriously investigating market manipulation by this guy,
31
Why would we need to do that if the economy is doing so well?
14
Why would any bank loan money if it COST them money ?
10
Econ 101 on interest policy in a global economy
1. Central bank changes of interest rates change the
exchange rate of the National currency
Lower interest rates lowers the value,
Increasing rates increases the value
2. A low value benefits exports
For example , it lower the price a foreign country, say
China, has to pay , in its currency, Yuan for a Boeing
airplane. That puts the US company ahead, in the
competition with Airbus, a EU company .
3. That is, unless the European Central Bank (ECB) is
moving, in response to an even lower interest rates
4. The EU economic recovery of the last 2 years was
export driven
5. To keep it going the ECB has announced further
lowering of its interest rate
6. This policy is know as currency wars. The starting
shot was the Fed's recent lowering of its interest
rates. Central Banks around the globe followed
lowering theirs. The Yuan fell below 7 (good news
for US consumers as the Chinese, effectively pay
Trumps tariffs, bad news for US exporters)
Of the trio of the most important Central banks, The Fed, the BOJ and the ECB, the Fed is out of sync.
How you see this depends on to what monetary theory you
subscribe to.
However, I will say this: Capitalism was founded on the assumption that capital is a prized asset, handed out by a competitive market place to those most able to use it.
Negative interest are the end of it.
4
The value of fiat currencies rests on their capacity to make more of themselves when loaned to others through banks. Who spends cash to buy securities whose value is clocked to diminish over time?
6
Says the man with multiple company bankruptcies behind him. Let’s hope that the Fed ignores his counsel, steers a course that is in the best interests of the country and its economy.
11
Trump's demand for .01% interest rates are simply his effort to pump money into the economy to shore it up, at least through the 2020 election.
The resistance come from two sources. Within the Fed they know if the drop to .01% now, if recessionary tendencies continue they won't have any more tools to work with.
The other foes are those that know that all this "free money" will only increase speculative investment and have little impact on the real economy.
The big players, who make 85% of all stock purchases will back out like bandits. They always do. But the Main Street (as opposed to the Wall Street) economy will not see any benefit.
Basically this is Trump siding with his fellow billionaires for his political gain and their financial gain.
12
So is our economy strong, or not?
If it is, why is our president asking for measures usually used during an economic crisis or downturn?
Also, is the president admitting he made a mistake in his nomination to head up the Fed? That would be news!
8
"Mr. Trump said that “...we should then start to refinance our debt.”
He really has no idea about state financing, does he? Could someone explain 30-day, 90-day, 1-year, 5-year, and so forth to him.
Then someone needs to explain to him, and likely to his party, given their default flirtation in 2013, the "full faith and credit" clause and this language in the 14th Amendment:
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."
6
Look at all the businesses he had that he bankrupt? The University that students paid tuition for, went under, and did he ever refund that tuition? He’s clueless about financing, no matter how much he brags he’s the smartest man!
7
I would suggest to you a primer on Government bonds. we can repurchase our debt at anytime - that's refinancing and it routinely happens. The clause in the 14th Ammendment deals with those debts if the various States assumed by the feds at the end of the civil war - it ensure that debt assumed could not be put back to the States at a future date. Refinancing debt is questioning it.
2
@batavicus: Trump has conned so many suckers over his career that he fully expects people to exchange securities their bear positive interest for ones that pay negative interest.
1
This would hurt retirees and anyone with a savings.
11
Really? After bankrupting his businesses at least 4 times, he is calling members of the Fed, “Boneheads”?
This latest statement by our president has exposed Trump’s business model to our government and the tax paying public. Trump has never paid the price of his failing business tactics. When he leveraged his businesses beyond his ability to pay his obligations, he didn’t lose. His father did, the banks did, the contractors and small businesses hired by him did, because he walked away from those financial obligations every time he declared bankruptcy. He didn’t lose his home, business or family.
The federal government is the last stop. As taxpayers, WE are the last stop, and we will be the ones holding the bag with his business tactics.
12
During the campaign, candidate Trump told us he would appoint only the "best people". Now, President Trump himself admits that he has appointed "boneheads".
11
more evidence trump doesn't know much about economics
5
This request obviously personally benefits Trump.
10
Janet Yellin is someplace laughing. What abuse she avoided.
270
@Donna
I doubt it. She too took the position seriously and cared about the country. She can't be pleased about what trump is doing.
24
@Donna Admit it; Trump is terrible at his "job". Vote blue no matter who
28
@Ray Sipe
Not a problem - already planning on it.
8
The interest rate in most need of Our President's "hereby" treatment is what banks charge their credit-card holders.
Households that run balances on their credit cards have $9,333 of credit-card debt.
https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-credit-card-debt
What's the cost of servicing that debt? At 17.6%, the national average...
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/historic-credit-card-interest-rate-chart.php
..the annual interest charge - without compounding - is over $1,600.
But what's that compared to "TEN BILLION DOLLARS"?
2
I find it disgraceful that President Trump cannot observe the 18th anniversary of 9/11 without tweeting about negative interest rates and poll numbers. Is nothing sacred to this man!
22
@KS No. Nothing. ONLY himself.
5
@KS
No! What took you so long.....
how are don-the-con's own loans impacted by this?
how about the Kushner loans?
where are the tax returns
to whom is he in debt
how do these bizarre comments benefit him and his personally
the swamp is fetid with this man's corruption
11
During his “Presidential” campaign, Trump repeatedly chastised the Fed for keeping interest rates low, saying it was just a way to ‘make Obama look good’ and that any idiot could juice a weak, stagnant economy to keep it limping along with phony, anemic growth. He also lamented the plight of ‘frugal people’ who worked and saved and hoped to live on income from savings in retirement.
Well then, like most things Trump, he will throw those savers under the bus when it comes time to save his own skin. And what was ‘phony’ yesterday is the gold standard when it suits him.
It’s difficult to forget this is the brilliant business man and savvy dealmaker who brought us the Trump Taj Mahal, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Airlines, the New Jersey Generals, Trump University... Now Donald “Richie Rich” Trump has got a new toy — it’s called the United States Treasury and the global economy.
As Trump has been doing with his playthings since he was a badly behaved, overgrown child, he’s gonna play with it until it breaks. But this time, his rich daddy, Deutsche Bank and a fleet of bankruptcy attorneys won’t be there to fix it. And as always, everybody else will suffer the losses, while Trump shrugs and walks away in search of a new toy to destroy.
6
The self-proclaimed King of Debt, serial bankrupter and persona non grata to any credible lender has already suggested that it would be a good move for the US Government to default on its public debt and then buy it back for pennies on a dollar. Once again the stable genius living in a world of his own demonstrates a lack of knowledge of the Federal Reserve and central bankers in general. His comments are indistinguishable from those that might be uttered by an ignorant, lazy, unschooled and arrogant drunk at your local Applebees.
4
This family has no shame - 9/11, attack the Democrats by tweet; change the tax laws to benefit Trump and his cronies and bully the Fed into submission. But all of this takes submission by the Republican party. Is the corruption so deep that, like Barr, they are all just saying, “well, we all die anyway” ?
10
Methinks someone has a significant amount of debt in need of refinancing. Now, if I could just figure out who it could be ...
9
Our chief bonehead doesn't even know that these rate changes have nothing to do with rates that consumers pay on their credit cards, which remain exceedingly high, even over the 15% that was supposed to be the maximum rate after the financial meltdown. If usurious rates are the aims of the big banks, then our Crime Boss in Chief is their main PR guy covering this up.
Ms Warren has a plan, but her role as a consumer advocate pre-dates her run for President. May I suggest you regularly ask her what she thinks about all this. Silencing her has been the number 1 priority of Republicans since 2008.
7
What ultimate idiocy will it take to awaken the people of our country to the absolute danger of allowing the present farce to continue?
I feel we are in a dark, dark place and recall Dante’s words. “Abandon hope all ye who enter here”.
But I cannot abandon hope because it’s all I have. I will still hope events will eventually show the truth to its deniers and correct our mistakes.
7
It’s the “select few” that have helped create this destructive man. I won’t even call him human, because he’s a prime example of inhumane. The majority of us never have, and never will support him. Little by little, his “supporters” are beginning to see him for what he actually is. He’s the stereo-typical “con-man.” We need to be sure we, the majority, get out and vote “blue.” We need to make sure the electoral college doesn’t make the same mistake twice.
4
If someone referred to yiu as a bonehead would yiu rush out to grant his request?
5
Another obvious request to put more money in HIS pockets, not ours. Go away. Can't wait for your midnight exit from the WH.
9
Talk about trash talk.
3
My guess: Trump is pushing for this because he and his family businesses have several hundred million in loans that need to be rolled over or extended.
11
@Testamento Touche!
7
I agree that they are boneheads, albeit, for different reasons than Trump. The last two increases before they cut the rate are unwarranted.
Who is going to buy USA debt obligations if the buyers are paying for the interest instead of receiving
4
I feel Trump has a personal interest in this - he probably owes a lot of money and low rates help him and his company. He also wants to stimulate the economy to head off a recession prior to the election next year. Low interest rates help those with debt, or those wanting to acquire debt, but for those of us who want to save we are penalized. Deflation is not a good thing to wish for -ask Japan about that. I hope Chairman Powell shows some backbone, along with the rest of the Fed and makes their decisions based on their analysis of the needs of the general economy and welfare - not on Trump's person political agenda.
7
After 2 1/2 years of watching this travesty and farce of Donald Trump‘s presidency one thing is certain : however he describes his adversaries is almost always a far more accurate description of Donald Trump himself.
If he refers to the Federal Reserve as a group of boneheads and he actually nominated the head of the Fed,then that would make Donald Trump “Bonehead in Chief”.
8
Did the leader of the free world just use the word “bonehead”? I teach middle school and a 12 year old has better sense than this sad little man.
12
How easy it is to verbally abuse someone from behind the safety of a Twitter account. Trump is a coward.
18
Yet, if we as citizens wish to verbally abuse HIM, we are first blocked, then reported if we continue, blocked from ALL social media, yet we as citizens are entitled to the first amendment. As long as we don’t physically threaten the president, which I wouldn’t even consider, no matter how angry I feel, we should be able to verbalize how we feel.
5
Low interest rates are bad for banks, bad for insurance companies and pension funds, bad for savers and bad for a country's economy. Look no further than Japan that has had zero or negative interest rates for decades - and little or no growth for decades.
5
What Trump really meant was... “The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, so that I can then start to refinance my debt.” We've already seen Trump acknowledge that his tweets can move the markets, and it's entirely conceivable that his company or his family is currently benefitting. This would be a more direct way to enhance his own bottom line. His urgency is that he may not be president for long, so he wants to benefit while he can.
10
The King of Debt wants to get paid to borrow, and also he's worried about his erratic trade war hurting the economy, thus his chances for re-election.
If he was seriously interested in US debt, rather than family business debt, he'd not have signed that debt-ballooning tax bill the GOP foisted on us (without them reading it first). But it includes some nice giveaways to the kind of business that real-estate types use.
So there's several layers of self-serving in his boneheaded request.
5
Another day, another barrage of idiotic tweets from the malignant narcissist in chief.
Lower interest rates only help him and his cronies to service their massive debt and that is all he cares about.
What an utter disgrace and cancer on this country this clown is.
5
Meanwhile Schwab is laying off 3% of its workforce (600 employees) amid hit from Fed's interest rate cuts https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/11/schwab-is-laying-off-600-employees-amid-hit-from-the-feds-interest-rate-cuts.html
As others have pointed out, the hit to jobs, retirees, investors... none of that matters; just name-calling and getting 'free money' for himself.
242
@Jacksonville Name calling is big these days in the United States.
8
@Jacksonville Wait until his 2nd term, if there is one, he plans to cut Medicare and privatize Social Security as Senator Ernest has already been telling Iowans at her town halls this Summer.
11
@Jacksonville Banks DO NOT Like low rates because it cut in to the margins and $$ they can make. use like oil companies do not like low oil prices. Everyone gets paid in $$ not %%; so the higher the prices/ rates the more $$ they get even when the %% remain the same. THIS is a major problem with the US system.
Given that Trump has demanded an interest rate of zero or less, it would be useful for economists and financial reporters to discuss the OPTIMUM SOCIAL DISCOUNT RATE (OSDR) - the rate that defines the LONG TERM equilibrium between consumer time value of money (savings) and producer demand for replacement capital and new capital (investment).
Remember the IS-LM curves in the macroeconomic framework?
Most (all?) of the current debate irresponsibly ignores this issue.
Note, research estimates the OSDR at well above Zero, in the vicinity of 3-4.5%.
Also, it should be noted that Trump PERSONALLY benefits from low-zero interest rates, but that's minor compared to all the other problems with his presidency.
2
We have a policy difference between the President and the FED Chair. Shouldn't Mike Crapo, the Senate Banking Chief call Powell to testify and get to the bottom of this conflict?
2
Wonder if Trump's loans are keyed to the Federal Rates ? Naaah......
4
Give Trump enough time , he surely Bankrupt the casino ( he sees America is no different than Atlantic city casinos) he manages now.
5
Nice.
Trump criticizes his "handpicked Fed Chair, Jerome H. Powell" and his colleagues as well as publically calling them "boneheads".
How presidential - NOT
How professional - NOT
How utterly disgraceful and embarrassing.
And yet his pals remain mute, as usual.
7
It's time for NYT, WaPo, and CNN to check up how much can his companies be benefited if the rate goes below zero.
Doesn't this Trump's tweet worth a criminal investigation of corruption?
8
Negative interest rates!!
Apparently making directly deal with Scottish airport to divert passengers to his hotel is not cutting his needs?
This President want your bone marrow and kidney , My fellow Americans.
4
Trump is running an election, not an economy. All he cares about are growth rates over the next 14 months. Fed eggheads, ignore this bonehead and sustain the 10 years of steady growth.
4
Short sighted "Bionehead" Trump would be dumping truckloads of cash in the streets if he thought it would get him reelected.
2
If there is a true "Bonehead" in Washington, DC then Trump would know it as he sees one every time he looks in the mirror.
Hopefully Powell will continue to stand against him and protect our economy.
3
Does Trump have to call absolutely everybody ugly names? Boneheads? Really? How are we expected to raise children to be thoughtful and kind when the president of the United States is a name-calling bully?
5
How many times have the "boneheads" at the Federal Reserve been forced to file for bankruptcy?
5
No mention yet that Trump called the Federal Reserve members "boneheads". Who does that kind of thing? Are we now numb?
4
Now I finally get it.... Trump still thinks this is his Reality Show on Fox. So he can say "you're Fired" to anyone. Even high ranking officials, The Fed Chairman, Cabinet Members. Why not insult everyone....there have not been any consequences to date. . Here is hoping the ratings continue to decline and we all Cancel this current version of the "DSJ Show" at the next election.
2
So I am going to have to pay a bank to hold my money? I'll have to buy a bigger mattress.
8
In economic terms when money is worth more in a mattress than at a bank then your money is in a liquidity trap — or just stuck underneath
Vulture capitalists Love free money and this Powell man is the Fake president's lackey. so he'll probably go now and do what his Boss tells him to. No mystery here.
Since Trump is considered to be hundreds of millions of dollars in debt - this surely is another of his policies that are governed by pure self interest. These decisions ought not to be made by a corrupt, idiot who bankrupted a minimum of three companies, considers himself a genius at finance, diplomacy, military strategy, international relations, marriage, and winning elections.
4
There is most assuredly, without doubt, a bonehead in government, but that bonehead is our President, whose perception of reality is lying it into his delusional assertion of what he argues is “true.” Mr. Trump is incapable of understanding the world as anything other than Reality TV, aided, abetted, enabled and facilitated by his loyal audience, who share with him a castle in the sky they’ve furnished and moved into.
3
trump calling anyone a “bonehead” is laughable.
A stray cat has more financial savvy than that imbecile, and at best his only “winning” strategy has ever been to keep the con going a just little longer, which this can been seen to do.
Wharton should sue trump for irreparable damage to their image.
2
This is the same guy (bonehead) who thought interest rates were too low when Obama was president. Not sure why the media take anything he says seriously without (at least) pointing out the hypocrisy immediately.
5
"Boneheads" Really!
Is the current President a real person or just a pimply teenager from a sixties comic strip wearing a costume from a third-rate party supplies outlet?
3
Emolumnets clause of the Constitution.. or is that not there...??.
Time for impeachment hearings.. at the very least...
4
I smell desperation.
5
November 2020 can’t come soon enough
2
Calling someone a "bonehead" is a tactic used by a very insecure man who doesn't have the intellect to do anything but insult and Bully.
3
Correction: insecure child
This is just like Turkey
1
A president calls his Fed Reserve chairmans "bone heads"
Decency and Grace long ago flushed down the toilette in this white House.
4
Boneheads indeed - name calling suited to 10-year old. Shall we then say: takes one to know one! 😖
3
Trump using the insult "bonehead" sounds like transference, to me.
3
So Mr. Powell should take advice from a blowhard simpleton who somehow managed to go bankrupt investing in casinos?
5
Oh For God's Sake--is Trump the Expert on Everything! Jesus this man is nuts--Great Administrations employ the genius and let them be--but Smart must be at helm--not the Insane.............
3
I'm not helping Putin's boyfriend do anything. His son told us they get their money from Russia. America is for sale. Just look at who is cashing in. GOP now says they need to get the debt under control.....after tax cuts for 40 yrs they NOW think taking money out of the system hurts the economy and safety of all Americans. Remember the GOP goal is to shrink Gov't down to where it could drown in a bath tub. GOP is about the top making money at everyone's expense. The GOP believe that poor people are taking your money. der der der
2
Boneheads meet Bone Spur.
4
I only see one bonehead here, and he has a very bad comb-over.
3
Takes one to know one!
1
I feel sorry for Trump. He is saddled with all these lousy, stupid advisers and cabinet members. He has to keep firing them for incompetency. Who appointed all these people in the first place? Who selected them to be in charge of the government? My guess? Obama!
This man[sic] is a disgrace. The dumbest individual in-the-room disparaging other people's intellect? We cannot ever get used to this foolishness: GOP- YOU are the disgrace for accepting (rewarding) this behavior by your cowardly silence. Media- you too are a disgrace by never pointing this out- except as an aside.
3
Credit cards companies reward us for spending. Rewards for saving are minimal. Now they want to pay us to borrow. We will be bankrupt and destitute in a crash.
2
I honestly believe the majority of Americans are finally getting exhausted from this man's constant ignorance, loud mouth, and arrogant attitude. The Federal Reserve is taking the correct action. We have to have a safety net. Trump is only looking to enrich himself, once again! We need a president that will put country first.
335
@Never Ever Again
Yeh, he only wants them for his own debts to Deutsche Bank and Capital One.
10
I like the calm way Mr. Powell reacts to Trump as though he is dealing with a child who needs a story and a nap. Maybe a cookie...
18
@Never Ever Again. I hope you’re right but I fear not.
7
Remember: Trump hires the BEST boneheads.
3
Go ahead, do it. Steal some more from retirees who have saved their entire woking lives and now depend on income from those savings. Ten years of near zero interest rates have not been enough already. Take some more.
6
From the landmark Dunning-Kruger study:
“When people are incompetent in the strategies they adopt to achieve success and satisfaction, they suffer a dual burden: Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it. Instead, like Mr. Wheeler, they are left with the mistaken impression that they are doing just fine.”
There is no greater summary of Trump and the people who support him that could ever be written.
5
What a vulgar, tormented embarrassment to the Presidency.
4
I'm in shock that any American could support the policies of this man. He is a childish lying bully.
6
Trump is a guy who knows a thing or two about driving a business--now a government--into the ground.
Why would anyone even listen to Trump's nonsense and bullying?
Lie down with dogs and you get up with fleas.
Lie down with Trump and you get up with sleaze.
3
“Boneheads.”
Physician, heal thyself.
1
Fee-fi-fo-fum
I smell the resignation of a Fed Chairman
Be he alive, or be he dead
I'll grind his bones to make my bread
It will take America decades to recover our economy from the massive deficits and political federal reserve.
The Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome H Powell has no sane reason to allow a Defcon 5 cut in interest, and Jerome has no spine to stand up for America's future economy, after Mr. Trump has squandered the future of our children.
Speaking of boneheads . . .
1
Trump has demonstrated his idiocy in virtually every area of human knowledge. When he starts calling his own appointments boneheads he is close to the end of his playbook. The only people left to attack are the idiots who still support him. That will be the end for this sorry excuse of a human being.
2
I stopped believing that this bonehead in the wh knew anything about anything a long, long time ago.
4
I think the only bonehead here is our President.
7
What you do if your the head of the Federal reserve and a man who most likely thinks a naïveté is a young strumpet from the navy calls you a bonehead ..do you show zero interest..?
1
The love affair with below-zero interest rates will be short lived when the debt chickens come home to roost. By definition, this will result in extreme inflation when the world wakes up and realizes that money is so valueless that you have to pay someone to take it from you. Collective insanity designed to prop asset values. People - your money is rapidly losing value!
2
So POTUS won't listen to anyone who doesn't agree with him. His economic policy advisers are bootlicking charlatans who just want to keep their jobs, and the country's well being be damned. What could go wrong? Republicans are really going to let this happen? To what end? This is beyond belief. Someone stop this madman.
4
Mr. Trump had less economic expertise than the three year old with a piggy bank. and the three year old probably has a stronger credit rating than Trump does.
The bankruptcy King fails to accept responsibility for the very real harm his tariffs have caused..Farmers losing their farms as loans come due for crops they cannot sell, auto factories shutting down due to the cost of steel and aluminum.
So, how is any of that the fault of the Fed?????
At what point do members of the GOP put the brakes on the car he is driving over a steep cliff? He is not as wealthy or successful as he claims and he is the one DESPERATE for lower interest rates for HIS financial issues.
This taxpayer does not much care if his empire crashes, but I do care about America's financial stability and I count on the FED-not Trump to do that....
7
So He is suggesting to FED do something what they did just after 2008 October Lehmann collapse.
Then
What is his expectation from his own economical policy and results.
The guy doesn't even perceive what his words meant is appallingly agonizing and knowing that world economy is some how subjected to his mercy Truly a pitiful thing.
Negative interest rate for what , re-election , Who cares the realities of economy. Me me me…
Seriously 30% of America , time to wake up and repent from your mistakes.
4
There is some naïveté in this situation but it’s not with The Fed.
3
That's a man who lived all his life on credit and then went bankrupt when payments were due. No wonder he doesn't like interest. It interferes with his 'payment plant'.
7
Trump is steadily turning America into an Alice in Wonderland fantasy where, like Humpty Dumpty says in "Through the Looking Glass, "“When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’
3
Negative interest rates would bring the United States into the same black hole that Europe now finds itself in. The economic danger would be extreme and there is absolutely no reason to advance that prospect. T
he US is now receiving an inflow of funds from across the globe for two reasons; a positive interest rate, and the transparency/security of our financial structures.
To have our finances guided by a man who: squandered an inherited fortune, received tax relief claiming over a billion dollars in tax losses, bankrupted multiple corporations he controlled, was involved in litigation of case after case involving non-payment of contracted debt, and settled litigation involving fraud is absurd.
Many Americans do not fully recognize the extraordinary fiscal work done to remediate the 2008 recession and prevent an absolute economic disaster. It seems that Trump is attempting to undo the Obama Administrations success!
I'd sooner take economic advice from the White House janitor!
5
Hey America, Trump doesn't want you to earn any interest on your meager savings. Time to hide your cash under the mattress, where it will be safer!
6
Since the economy is "doing so great" under his guidance, we should be increasing interest rate? More gibberish from the usual source. I look forward to when he is gone and I don't have news every hour...
1
Trump can have robust job growth or negative interest rates but not both-they are incompatible! In an economy which is employing more people and where there are profits there is no need for lower interest rates.Trump views interest rates as a real estate developer-he can borrow cheaply to build and then rent or sell buildings at a huge profit.Both he and Kushner have millions of dollars of debt on the books of banks-they would love to have them go to zero.Again Trump is trying to use the government to improve his bottom line.Powell and the Fed need to be economists , not Trump “ toadies”. They need to look at the United States economy and ignore the “tweets” of an economic dummy.
3
Negative interest rates are what is done to stave off a deflationary spiral. The countries that currently are using them are in that predicament. Their economies are contracting primarily because of declining birthrates and an aging population. Negative interest rates are an extreme method with many negative consequences.
How would you like to put your life savings in a bank and actually have to pay the bank a substantial fee to hold your money with no interest paid to you? No one would want that. How would you like to buy a US treasury bond that charged you interest instead of paying you interest?
We are not in a deflationary spiral. Our economy is chugging along in spite of Trump. A recession is looming because of the trade wars. They are dragging down the global economy which is dragging ours down with it.
Trump is terrified of a contracting economy because if he is not reelected because of it, he could face criminal prosecution. His fear is a dead giveaway that he is vulnerable. So what does he do?
He accuses the FED of being boneheaded for correctly managing the money supply and then proposes the most boneheaded path for them to take. Negative interest rates.
Like the old saying goes, desperate people do desperate things.
6
Trump seems to only make suggestions, or are they demands, that favor him and his fellow billionaires. His ideas also reflect his total economic ignorance.
3
So his retiree base, living off their savings and social security, watch as trump constantly cheers to lower their disposable incomes. Then they go vote for him again. Same with the soybean farmers. smh....
7
It is a Viable Economic Move to Slash Interest rates ....for the biggest Winners will be the Country and its Trillion Dollar Debt. .....in the long term this is going to be taken care of/ A.I. with Automation will take MFG. into a New Materialist realm where demand itself will come under control as supply beomes fullfilled quicker than you can say Trump 2020!
Trump is a real estate developer. Of course he wants lower rates.
His Golf properties are underwater. He squandered his inheritance, now he wants to squander ours!
6
I think that we have, as a country, the right to know how much the Trump and Kushner Organizations have in outstanding debt and what they are currently paying in the terms of interest. This is a country being manipulated by a thief stealing from us again and again.
5
Every time Trump talks about interest rates, it is only through one lens - as a real estate developer who borrows money to survive.
High rates bad. Low rates good. Below zero rates are even better.
It is all his feeble brain can handle.
3
Isn't it refreshing to live in a republic where the most powerful person in the country regularly resorts to name calling and lying to get his point across? (rhetorical)
2
Look at where we are in America today.
We have a 'president' who's calling economic and financial professionals 'boneheads'.
Ponder that for a minute. It's truly mind-blowing.
NOT my president
2
In most workplaces, referring to colleagues as "boneheads" would result in a call from Human Resources.
501
@The Buddy
In a professional moral and ethical workplace, nobody with integrity and humility in a leadership position will ever publicly shame or embarrass any co-worker or subordinate.
But again, if you have no shame,dignity and a long history of chasing porn actresses and playboy playmate- all while your wife is nursing a newborn- then the shame is really on who puts you in that leadership role.
33
@The Buddy, the thought I had this morning is that even in my rec soccer league, I would not call an opponent a bonehead, even as sought to tackle him and relieve him of the ball. If my 10-year-old kid called someone a bonehead on the elementary school playground I would insist he apologize.
And yet, in the White House...
At least he's not wearing tan suit.
28
@The Buddy Yeah, he wouldn't last five minutes in a proper workplace. I keep trying to imagine him as CEO of a major public company. And then the laughter starts.
24
Instead of tweets and pejoratives, could someone in this administration just for once pull together the most expert members of the cabinet and hash out substantive policies?
The governance-by-tweet has to stop, it wastes taxpayers time and money, is diversionary, and gets us nowhere.
336
@JH
I completely agree with you about stopping "governance-by-tweet", especially since I have recently been wondering how tweeting might be placed off-limits to any and all federal personnel (president down to mailroom clerk) acting in an official capacity.
I am unable, however, to think of a way around Constitutional impediments such as "free speech" rights. Anyone who can devise a method for banning all tweeted official communication deserves a gold medal.
17
@JH I'm confused - there exists "expert members of the cabinet" ?
64
@JH
There are no experts in his cabinet.
51
I am retired and interest income matters to me. Perhaps, Trump could explain why he would severely punish people like me.
802
@Lee
Easy, he doesn’t care about anyone. His Golf course properties are all losing money. He has squandered his inheritance and now want to squander ours.
151
@Lee You are not him so you do not matter at all for even a split second to him.
110
@Lee: He doesn't care about you or anybody like you. How could someone believe that he cares about anybody?
70
When Trump calls Powell and other members of the Federal Reserve Board "boneheads", I can't help but think of my mother who used to say "Takes one to know one!"
The most important characteristic a President must have is his (or her) ability to evaluate and select people who will be charged with responsibility within the Administration. No President is or can be well-informed about every relevant issue. Therefore it is critically important that a President choose reliably knowledgeable people to provide information and execute policy. Given the very high rate of turnover in Trump's Administration, both voluntary and forced, it is clear that President Trump lacks the ability to evaluate, choose, and retain the people who are absolutely necessary for the safety and well-ordered functioning of our country.
3
A negative interest rate would be especially beneficial to his company and him personally, so I think it can be safely presumed that that’s the real reason for his push on this issue. As usual, it’s always about him, never about the good of the country or the world at large.
1056
@Betty Boop I read that a 1% drop in the rate would save the him about $3 million per year in interest payments on his loans.
35
@Raystas I think that is per month, not per year. It would be nice if the article gave us a number.
21
@Betty Boop I have a close friend and Trump supporter, but also very fiscally responsible. He's convinced the only reason for the lower rate push is to refinance his properties.
39
If the Fed were to do this, what tools would be left for a real financial emergency?
There is no emergency, only trump.
1
Let’s see. Trump has already told Republican legislators that he plans to cut social security and Medicare if he gets re-elected. And now he wants to lower interest rates even more to the detriment of those who are counting on that to supplement their income during retirement.
Two questions: Why do so many older voters continue to vote for Republicans?
And, why aren’t the Democrats mentioning this day and night to all of the 50-years-and-older citizens who actually vote, instead of focusing on unpopular and wonky “woke” issues that only appeal to only about 20,000 twenty-year-old white “progressives” (half of them who are too “pure” to vote) Twitter posters who live in deep blue coastal districts?
12
It takes a "bonehead" to know a "bonehead".
When the tax cuts passed, Trump, and the GOP, promises over 3% growth which would cover the $trillion or so gifts to corporations, and the 1% elite (including members of Congress and Trump himself).
We are not getting the growth. The money the corporations were to spend in salaries, went to stock holders. The money corporations stashed overseas, to avoid taxes, is still overseas. And, despite tariffs, rising prices, lower job creation, only consumers are keeping the economy afloat; but fro how long?
The so called economist, "chosen one", president, and his party, have painted themselves into a corner. That is, an economy that could be in recession right when voting starts next year. Now, desperation has set in.
The "boneheads" here are the GOP, its so called fiscal responsible Congressional delegation, and our so called "president".
5
Savers are penalized and borrowers rewarded. Let’s make it that easier by cutting the middleman Fed. Where can we send our checks to our needy stable business genius in the Oval Office?
2
Trump only cares about the economy while he's President. He'll use all kinds of measures to prop it up so he can brag about how great he is. If it crashes and burns the day after he leaves office and incinerates the savings of millions of retirees and families saving for college or down payments on homes, well, he couldn't care less.
4
Capitalism as we understand its machinations today is coming to an end - first world economies are tapped out and not a single nation is even making noises about paying national debt down, never mind actually paying them down. I have no idea what is coming but I have doubts it will benefit the average person. At all.
2
@Norman Dupuis - I wish you were wrong.
1
"“it is only the naïveté of Jay Powell and the Federal Reserve that doesn’t allow us to do what other countries are already doing.”
Trump could have said as well "Jerome, lower the rate, elections are coming and I want to win."
6
@Dr. Ricardo Garres Valdez
don’t know about that but he definitely wants to lower his business debt.
4
Imagine my shock at seeing that Trump’s pushing yet again to artificially goose the economy by yanking the control rods. After all, it’s not like spending sprees and low savings led to the crash of 2006 or anything.
13
Trump owes $340 million to Deutsche which will come due in a couple of years. He badly need negative interest rates (he can't afford the interest) to make his loan payment.
37
Every time Trump urges the Fed to cut interest rates, he is admitting that the American economy needs a boost. That's the only reason to cut federal interest rates: to spur more economic activity. At some point, he needs to decide on a coherent message. Either our economy is amazing, as he claims, or it needs help, as he tacitly admits. It can't be both.
10
It can be both if you are an unstable genius.
2
Of course he wants lower interest rates. His company has massive loans and he would save millions on interest payments.
This guy doesn't care about the good old USA or it's people. It's only what's in it for TRUMP.
61
@JPM
I think that this is more evidence he is in deep financial trouble and is trying to manipulate monetary policy to avoid service on his personal debt. He kills the new FBI campus in Virginia because he is afraid somebody will build a hotel across the street from his, cutting his profits. He gets the Air Force to patronize Glasgow Prestwick because the airport is in trouble and it is essential to his golf club down the road, so Prestwick needs to be propped up (with US taxpayer dollars). This is a guy who goes around the Oval Office after a meeting looking for change under the cushions because he needs every nickel. Desperately. I'm surprised Ivanka isn't Fed chair yet.
2
He wants rates to go even lower? Because he wants to punish savers? It's bad enough savers have endured over a decade of obscenely low interest rates. Now, with savings interest rates "up to" about 2%, he wants them to go back down to 0.25% like they were? How about the AARP gets on this story and gets its members to realize just how much this POTUS is hurting older adults and anyone else who depends on savings.
45
@JenD
This is the great untold story of the last decade. It's impoverished a generation of retirees and younger savers.
At the same time, low interest rates have helped to prop up the stock market and funnel vast wealth into the pockets of stock brokers and fund managers. Because with rates so low, where else can someone put their money? People are practically forced to assume more risk in the market. When the recession hits and market falls, it will be a disaster for many older people who had to stay in the market too long.
And recent news about the undercapitalization of Fannie Mae is is not encouraging. Thanks Republicans for deregulation!
7
@Scott Cole Scott, I have been begging reporters (in comments like this) for years to please do a deep dive into this story. In my opinion, the decade-plus of low savings interest rates (and concomitant low business borrowing costs) has been the biggest transfer of wealth from ordinary Americans to the wealthy this country has ever seen. I suspect we are talking about many billions of dollars, but would love to see someone run the numbers. I longingly remember the days when I got 5% on my ING (rest in peace) savings account. We haven't come anywhere near that number since the Great Recession began.
1
This approach is another version of "trickle down economics" and will further hurt the working class and pension funds. If Trump can keep the market rally going until after the 2020 election, he will continue arguing that the economy is rosy. Unfortunately, most Americans will not benefit from this approach of having to pay banks to hold their savings. Furthermore, as our labor force continues to age and we look to a new generation to support Social Security, the pension funds will continue to be grossly underfunded to the tune of trillions of dollars. Our country cannot afford Trump's shell game. Neither can it afford to buy all of the candy that progressive Democrats are peddling during the primary season. We can not afford to pay for free college education and free health insurance for all. It would be great to do it, but we are over $20 TRILLION in debt. We need a balanced budget and should fix the Affordable Care Act.
16
Trump has over 2 billion in loans from Deutsche Bank. This has absolutely nothing to do with our economy and everything to do with his personal business.
87
@JT
Not true: it has everything to do with his reelection bid.
As the saying goes: When you borrow $2000 from Deutsche Bank and can't pay it back, you have a problem. When you borrow 2 billion from Deutsche Bank and can't repay it, Deutsche Bank has a problem.
He has never had a problem with losing other people's money.
3
Since everything of his has failed putting us more in debt why would anyone think going into the negative interest rate work.
12
Could he have meant eggheads? J. Powell is an expert. Trump has no expertise in anything except clowning.
This presidential name calling has got to stop.
Sticks and stones.....
As Mr. Powell well knows, the situation in the US does not call for such low rates, and is only as bad as it is because of Trump's tariff wars, deficit blowing tax breaks for the wealthy, and general unpredictability and chaos.
37
Don't we live in a society where a huge percentage of people can't even come up with $400 for an emergency? And we want to push forward with an idea that will penalize savers? Additionally, we are rapidly becoming a society where retirement depends on saving money as social security and the lack of affordable healthcare create a lot of financial insecurity for people close to or at retirement age. It seems to me that encouraging people to borrow more money is good for stockholders and CEOs but maybe not so much for the people themselves.
49
Like everything else, Trump takes credit for other's ideas, and sells them as his own. Like "Negative rates, which have been used in economies including Japan, Switzerland and the Eurozone, mean that savers are penalized and borrowers rewarded" guess who has large interest charges on loans? I'll bet we know. Lets see those tax returns Donnie
40
I think a better idea is to insist that all casino slots start paying out over 100% immediately.
43
A negative interest rate amounts to a tax.
44
@Alan He doesn't know that. He can't help it.
4
@Alan--But, not for the filthy rich, of course. They don't pay tax. "Only the little people pay tax." (Leona Helmsley) I hope Powell is a very strong, courageous guy, and just refuses to respond to the greed and stupidity of The Chosen One.
3
"[Trump] concluded by calling Mr. Powell, whom he nominated to head the central bank in 2017, and his colleagues “Boneheads.”
The only misguided reason Trump is insisting on the interest rates to go down to zero or below is because "European policymakers are widely expected to cut a key rate further into negative territory" and he wants this idea to be his, as if he is the genius behind it. His ego is bringing this country down to zero or below.
Once again, this infantile president is dabbling in areas he knows nothing about and continues to place this country in great financial peril.
305
@Marge Keller
The reason he wants this is to refinance and lower the interest rates on his own loans. Another gift to the wealthy and money taken away form the rest of us.
20
@ExPatMX - Exceptional point. Thanks.
3
@Marge Keller
And where is the outrage in Congress? Why are more Republicans and Democrats not expressing profound concern about this man?
3
When trump calls the Fed Chair a "Bonehead," Merriam-Webster must 'rush out' an edited dictionary volume with a new and better definition and example for its "irony" entry.
And a little definition-and-example edit where "fool" is found should be made so as to reference something about a brand licensor with a small-time real estate development sideline presuming to know ANYTHING about fiscal policy, monetary policy, or international trade (including the cross-effects on … and consequences for … international supply-and-delivery 'lines' augured or effected by tax, tariff, and labor policies, and by wages, access to materials and expertise, costs other than for labor and materials, etc.).
Hey: Even if trump didn't set a "record" for "going" bankrupt running casinos ….. [your conclusion here].
18
Of course Trump wants to lower interest rates to zero. Lowering his company's interest payments is right up there with the mega-millions tax cut he engorged on.
35
If Fed Chair Powell is a ‘bonehead’ and Powell was appointed by Trump...you can connect the dots.
24
@Bascom Hill -- only the best people...
1
Want to see the US dollar crash?
13
@Elli B
If your money is in rubles, that would raise its value.
How many time did Trump file for bankruptcy ? I've NEVER filed for bankruptcy, ever. He inherited hundreds of millions of dollars and filed for bankruptcy, he should be very careful who he calls a bonehead.
80
The madness of Trump knows no bounds.
31
@Christy
And the GOP long ago took off his leash so that they would be re-elected regardless of whether the country is destroyed.
1
if someone called me a "bonehead" for doing my job competently, i would quit. how can any person tolerate being in this administration? nobody is immune from his incompetence and his vile name-calling. is he not aware of the names that sane people call him? clown, narcisstic, grifter, empty-headed, worst president ever, a never trump, on and on and on.
19
@buskat. Just to be clear: the Fed is an independent institution. It is not a part of any presidential administration, strictly speaking. I for one do not want Powell to resign.
1
@buskat
I hope he doesn't quit. That's exactly what trump wants.
2
@buskat Clearly, he wants Powell to quit. However, if Powell has any real integrity and concern for the country, he understands that trump would replace him with another simpering sycophant, with unknowable but likely seriously negative consequences for the country. But if it improves trump's financial situation, let's go for it!
1
Congratulations Jay Powell. Being called a “bonehead” by the likes of Donald Trump is truly a compliment.
24
Boneheads?!?! Talk about the kettle and the pot. He inherited a terrific recovery from Obama and has unilaterly been talking the economy into recession with his easily won trade war. What an insult to both bones and heads.
42
Stand tall, stand firm Mr. Powell!
Stronger than Deutsche Bank, stronger than Capital One Mr. Powell,
Taller than Republican midgets, wiser than his minions Mr. Powell.
Firm in the line of outrageous torment Mr. Powell.
21
Putin is really getting his money's worth.
48
@Vern Castle He drew to an inside straight and has been collecting ever since.
Mister Financial Genius himself.
How many times have you declared bankruptcy?
26
@mjbarr
If you have a student loan under the current banking laws (a little gift for the banksters) you can't discharge it in bankruptcy... just sayin...
Perhaps the most telling part of this episode is Trump's recognition that he picked a "bonehead" to head the Fed. Curious, isn't it, that such a "shrewd businessman" and "stable genius" so consistently chooses not the "very best people," as he promised, but rather people he later derides as "morons" (former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson) or "boneheads" (current Fed chair Powell). What a shrewd judge of people is our Dear Leader (who never, ever, makes a mistake).
Actually, taking Trump at his word that he never makes a mistake, there must be something about associating with him that changes the "very best people" into morons and boneheads.
15
Trumps hires only the best boneheads.
21
The 300 pound "bonehead" in the room is TRUMP. He has a big mouth yet says nothing intelligent. Were he not speaking with his bully pulpit no one would listen to him except that tiny fringe group of lunatic conspiracy theorists.
TRUMP DOES NOT KNOW MORE THAN THE FED, nor does he know much of anything economic or scientific. This very poor student and failed real estate "developer" (read scam artist) with a totally fake CV (and even FAKE Time Magazine covers hanging in his failing properties) should not be listened to at all. He has manipulated the Stock Markets with his brainless Tweets, antagonized, insulted and demonized every intelligent and competent public employee and official and defied the rule of law at every opportunity.
Powell was correct in his decision to build Fed interest reserves when our economy, on the post-Obama upward curve (NOT a legitimate "Trump Bump"), was actually booming.EVERY legitimate Economist knows that economic trends are cyclic are that we are due for a recession. Without Fed flexibility and ammunition, we are at risk. Trump's fake "tax cut" (a gift to the rich) further weekend our reserves and hugely increased our debt. WHERE WERE THOSE HYPOCRITICAL REPUBLICAN FISCAL CONSERVATIVES then? They were raking in their tax gains at OUR expense!
IGNORE TRUMP. Listen to people who know and will not politically color their opinions (those who are NOT in this administration).
57
@RealTRUTH Correction..."Trump does not know more than...(fill in the blank with anything)...
If you haven't seen IDIOCRACY yet, don't worry. We're living it.
20
Naivete indeed..so what's it called when you put a serial bankruptcy artist in charge of U.S. fiscal policy? Get those Interest rates below zero, get that lemonade coming out of all the drinking fountains. Then yes let's start refinancing the national debt. It's unbelievable this guy doesn't do cocaine.
14
Why should he bother? He’s addled out of the box.
It would serve two short term goals
PAB would save a fortune on interest payments on his massive debts
It would artificially prop up the failing economy Republican policies is crashing
Both are beneficial to trump, and no one else. Such a move would cripple the economy long run, and leave no backstop when we plunge into yet another Republican recession
He does not care how much damage he does or how many lives he destroys because EVERYTHING is about him and only him
25
@John
OH... the interest rates for the BONDS held by other nations are fixed... What a zero interest rate would do is make long term bonds with 1 or 2% interest rates more valuable. The Democrats should have refused to raise the debt ceiling... Shrink govmt… take $$ away from the military... renage on some of the undoubtedly corrupt contracts that have been let... (I don't care, do you? -- Well I might if it hit MY medicare and MY social.)
@John If Trump keeps making serious mistakes then he won't get re-elected. If his supporters suffer he is finished. Let him make a big fat mess.
Response from Fed Chair Powell to President Trump:
"We are not that desperate. It seems that you are."
23
How to win friends and influence people, the Trump way: Insult them
11
I am not sure who was teaching the economic courses, if any, Trump took when he attended Wharton, but clearly he wasn't paying very close attention. His understanding of economics wouldn't fill an elfin thimble. It is astonishing that he is tolerated by Republicans who continue to refuse to separate themselves from his wildest rantings and ideas. The man is an unbounded well of bad ideas.
25
Can't wait for my bank to start charging me to keep my savings in their bank. Anticipate a revival of stuffing mattresses with cash.
14
@ShenBowen
It happens. Gold will skyrocket in price. Buy today.
Trump is playing dare, double dare vis a vis impeachment... ... and Congress is on vacation. (and of course certain members (both parties) of Congress have made lots of moola off of Trump's proposals...
1
Doesn’t this cause inflation?
5
This is the scariest thing I've read since yesterday.
73
You should change the headline to "Trump Acknowledges His Insane Fiscal "Policy" Is Causing Another Great Depression." One more GREAT for King Donald the Great!
12
Do the math. The nation is 70 trillion (that's 70.000 billion) in dept. This genius is claiming 1 percent reduction in interest rate is reducing the interest payment per year by 25 billion. For shure he does not understand this. Who is he kidding? What a business man!?
10
So let me get this straight. Trump wants the banks to owe HIM money? And he calls the Feds boneheads?
Right. I thought so.
11
And of course calling them boneheads is sure to make the Fed want to do the president’s bidding! What a negotiator.
11
Why is it that the man who promised to hire only the finest people now fires them and/or calls them boneheads?
Has "extreme vetting" become so 2017?
7
All of you folks out there who voted for Trump because he’s “successful businessman”, what do you think of your choice now?
Those of you who continue to support him in spite of all that you’ve seen,heard, read about him over the last 3 years, what in the world is wrong with you?
33
Guns, abortion, illegal immigrants, shipping jobs to China, persecution of white guys and Christians, government overreach, all that stuff.
1
@Patrick alexander
Trump said it best himself in 2016: "I love the poorly educated!".
(Since he is his only true love, we can include him in that group)
4
Trump has no bounds whatsoever. He flits from one subject to
Another making pronouncements just for the sake of his
Insatiable narcissism. The results are chaotic swirling confusion.
What we are seeing is a man without direction, present or future.
We are experiencing him living with moment to moment mental
Inabilities to face reality, coupled with a dead soul.
15
Gosh, what a great idea. If the Fed cuts rates to zero they will have no firepower in a recession, and I will essentially be paying my money market fund to hold cash. Then I can lose money on all my investments. Trump combines a singular lack of intelligence with astounding ignorance of economics. The dimmest politicians always have the biggest mouths.
613
@Wiltontraveler
"The dimmest politicians always have the biggest mouths" - President Trump is the very embodiment of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
33
Hear hear!
10
@Wiltontraveler And yet the GOP continues to be in lockstep with him. trump must go and the entire GOP.
18
Give Trump time. He will destroy this country.
22
@jh2
He already is, jh2.
3
"The economy is great, huge, the best ever! We also need the Bonehead Fed to slash interest rates!"
-A person who knows more than anyone about economics, apparently
9
If even millions of people calling someone a bonehead ever got results, I wonder who would have been in the White House since January 21, 2017. And yes, if I had a third of a billion in corporate loans fluctuating with Fed rates, I would prefer that banks pay me to keep and take out loans.
7
"My father and I were walking down Fifth Avenue and there was a homeless person sitting right outside Trump Tower,” [Ivanka] said in a 2003 documentary called “Born Rich.” “I remember my father pointing to me and saying, ‘You know that guy has $8 billion more than me,’ because he was in such extreme debt at that point, you know?”
And this is the man holding the reins on the American econoomy.
18
For God's sake, Mitch and company. Do you care anything at all about your country or it all about only keeping control at this point?!
The Emperor has no clothes. When are you going to stop practicing naked, self-interest politics?
21
Q. Why is "The Art of the Deal" such a thick book?
A. It has four Chapter 11s.
25
Good one!
1
Not impeachment. We need amendment 25 for 45 now.
13
People have been suggesting that Trump is only interested in negative interest rates because they would benefit him personally. I don't see how that could be the case when the only loans he can get come from Russian mobsters.
9
..., “I am very highly educated”. “I have the best words”.
And POTUS has colossally flawed insights into how the economy works.
Please stop this clown-car administration; enough is enough.
12
It's never his faults. He is not only a con artist, he is a blame artist too.
Nor the buck stops @ his desk will ever apply to him.
He will shamelessly claim credit for just about anything positive in the whole world.If the sewer systems are not flooding our streets, he will send a tweet congratulating himself for keeping it running.
But if things starts turns ugly, he will always ready with blameshifting. He will find someone else responsible for all his shortcoming.
To his base, that's the very essence of winning bigle.
179
Assuming the Trump Organization is heavily leveraged (thanks to Deutschbank), does that mean Trump gets a quarterly check from his bankers for being indebted to them?
Wow! Pretty nifty. So I go out and buy a new Ford and finance it, that means the fully amortized loan is LESS than the present value?
Just one question: Where does Ford get their money? (Did someone say they raise their prices? Ding, ding, ding.) Now we have an inflation problem, right? And what does the Fed do combat inflation? Why yes! They reduce their (now below zero) rates.
This smells worse than a can of Swedish surströmming!
15
I'm far from a financial expert, but we all know who will benefit from these interest rate cuts. People like Trump and his cronies who will benefit when their debts come due. This is all about him and serving his interests. Business as usual...
17
Let’s not forget that positive interest rates bring much European and foreign capital here, buoying our markets and statistical economy.
What happens when that money stops flowing in? I guess beyond the stable genius’s ability to project (or care about.)
7
and as the 2 NC elections last night show, trump has a strong chance for reelection.
4
@Brad
Ahhh...maybe...maybe not. A 2 point squeak is nothing to brag about. NC now has a Democrat Governor? Big picture. Not a look at gerrymandered small districts.
Still hoping for a hugely, bigly 45 loss. Seeing his hair on fire. What a sweet visual.
6
@Michael Sklar
and GW Bush was awarded Florida's electoral votes while barely losing the popular vote nationally and guess who was president for 8 years?
In the lead up to November 2016, I remember Rachel Maddow and others celebrating the idea that HRC would win and the Dems would take the House and Senate.
DON'T BE COMPLACENT.
5
He will do anything and everything he thinks he needs to do to get re-elected regardless of the consequences, because the alternative might well be jail and he knows it!
10
You see, naysayers: Trump does know something!
As an old, retired guy with not much money, this is what I've been waiting for. I cant wait to get my hands on a ton of bonds with a less-than-zero interest rate.
It'll be good for our wonderful United States, too..."and we should then start to refinance our debt,”. Oh yes, Mr. President. Our businessman dear leader will go the chapter 11 route that worked so well for him, personally.
18
As Vice President Dan Quayle said of his boss long ago: 'The President will lead us out of this recovery.'
36
Apparently, our economy is not doing so great after all.
26
The “cross winds” are caused by President Trump’s contradictory and confused tweets. Hot air is destructive and has effects beyond hurricanes. The stock market for example.
8
Trump's aim here is either to intimidate the Fed chairman to artificially stimulate the economy to boost his election chances or to have someone to blame when his reckless policy decisions drive the country into recession. His base can't drink enough of his Kool Aid. We should all be thankful that the Fed cannot be punished by a craven politician with dictatorial ambitions.
16
Trump's ham fisted thuggish approach to governance is coming home to roost in the form of a recession. Trump is scared to death it will doom his reelection. He'll use any gimmick to keep that from happening. All the more reason to vote him out of office in 2020.
19
The irony of Trump calling others "Boneheads" is rich. If only we could turn that into actual money to replay our deficit..
19
Nothing says “stable genius,” quite like pathologically forecasting one’s id onto their Twitter feed.
Donald Trump is the human embodiment of why ‘free speech’ must have limits.
15
Just what elderly retirees need: interest rates below zero! Forget your savings accounts. After eating Fido's dog food, head for the nearest soup line.
26
Clearly, the Stable Genius did not write this tweet. "naïveté" spelled correctly and complete with accent ? I don't think so. He should go back to criticising TV actors, basketball players and CNN.
18
I’ll bet Trump wishes he put Wilbur Ross at the Fed. Wilbur will do anything, as we saw with NOAA.
12
@Sean Cunningham
maybe he will or worse Lou Dobbs
8
@Sean Cunningham
Come on, Wilbur did a great job at Cyprus Bank with Ackerman.
THE king of debt speaking again for himself, not the country.
15
Still reliving his six bankruptcies, is he?
So, we should listen.....?
15
Trump is simply a weather vane and will point into whichever direction the wind happens to be coming from. As quickly and often as this shifts, so does his perspective and policy positions.
The fact that this occurs while he is President points only to only a couple of key conclusions: that he has absolutely no understanding of anything he responsible for guiding, and second, that he can easily be influenced by the loudest and most persuasive voice in the room.
To think he has any "organized" plan of attack, for any domestic, foreign, military, economic, environmental policy, would be a gross overestimation. As far as subtle understanding of the issues, fugeddaboudit. This man is was and always will be woefully unprepared for this job.
The danger is he senses the axe will come down on his head if he loses the election. Impeachment in the 1st term is no longer a practical reality. He is only pandering to his base who are a bunch of sick, right-wing Republican quasi-religiosos to stock up as many votes as possible.
Because of his fear of retribution, if he loses the election, there may well be an insurrection on his behalf sparked by his words. The above "base" is obviously armed to the teeth and ready to go. If possible, he will try to kick it to the Supreme Court to rule a contested election in his favor as the Rehnquist Court did in the nepotistic case of Bush, Jr. But don't put it past the State Militias as it were.
Only someone with something very significant to hide...
8
In a tweet, Trump "concluded by calling Mr. Powell, whom he nominated to head the central bank in 2017, and his colleagues 'Boneheads.'”
The President of the United States of America is name-calling his own appointees because non-negative interest rates exist? How is any decent American supposed to raise children when the President of the United States of America is a shameless mean girl bully?
There are people who have the power to stop this. Why can't Mike Pence and the cabinet do a 25th Amendment intervention? Give Trump an ultimatum: stop tweeting or we are removing you from office.
19
If we're going to refinance our debt, why not refinance student loans?
20
I blame this whole fiasco on NBC. NBC's ,"You are Fired," show made Americans think that Trump is a business genius.
10
The "bone head" is in the White House. Any fool that has to obviously alter a weather map to cover his mistake is not qualified to tell the Fed and its professionals how to do its job. The president wants low rates to prop up his campaign and doesn't care if that hurts the economy in the long run.
27
Trump should fire Powell and then resign, cutting a deal with President Pence to have himself (Trump) appointed Fed Chair.
Then Chairman Trump can employ his economic prowess for the benefit of all of us!
6
Stay independent Fed. Do not cave. The country needs that
20
@Gazbo Fernandez
If only.. Since Greenspan, Clinton maybe before the FED has only been political and Chicago School. Read Naomi Klein "The Shock Doctrine" for the intentionally destabilizing results of this make me richer policy.
Maybe those people in NC aren't so happy now... but maybe they all have lots of money in the stock market and own gold. ..
Trump’s loans are coming due...
13
The US version of Japan’s lost decade?
7
@DoTheMath Correct me if I'm wrong, but there are some key differences to consider: Japanese households in general had decent savings, much less debt. There was also more of a social safety net, and less political acrimony in Japan at that time. A sense of caring for the common good, as well.
We are probably in for some interesting times—only thing is when it will start.
It's comical to hear Trump accuse others of unethical or incompetent business tactics. He epitomizes both.
17
Puzzling to say the least. Why the dire need to cut rates in the so called "greatest economy of all time"? I'm confused.
16
But seriously, folks - if you personally and your 500 marginal businesses were burdened with huge debts because you were the King of Debt - and you had the chance to cut the cost of carrying that debt, and maybe even worm out of some of it, what would you do? Would you try to influence things so that your debt costs would be reduced? Would you learn the meaning of emoluments?
15
It seems everything Trump says or does has only one goal - to benefit Trump.
22
If we were to save a lot of money by just turning over the entire executive branch to Trump - and perhaps most of the rest of the government, too - and let Trump alone in his infinite wisdom make all the decisions and carry out all the actions, just like the brilliant king and potentate he imagined himself to be at the top of the Trump Organization, which would it then be:
The vast savings would go to reduce the national debt
The vast savings would go to reduce the Trump National Doral debt
The vast savings would be turned into a long, gaudy wall with retail opportunities and view condos (retaining air rights)
The vast savings would be returned to tax payers (how much would I get v my vote in 20?)
The vast savings would become a performance bonus for Trump and his kids
The vast savings would be used to help leverage the purchase of a foreign country that is not for sale
5
Why aren't more conservatives angry about Trump's demand that interest rates be lowered? If you lower them to zero or into negative territory and the economy falls into recession (or depression), the only way left for the government to pay it's bills is to tax its citizens.
This might not be such a bad idea after all...if it means that we can claw back all the benefits derived to the very wealthy over the last 30 years.
Let's bring back those high tax rates that were imposed during the Depression and the World War II and into the 1950s [highest tax rate in the 1930s -- 63%, during World War II -- 94%, in the 1950s -- above 70%]. We could then remake our taxation system into the sensible system we had for much of the 20th century and begin to close the income gap.
27
If my bank starts charging me for saving, I will pull my money out tomorrow. I bet I won’t acting alone.
30
No matter how low the Fed cuts rates my credit card still charges 28% interest why is that allowed? The word usurious has left our vocabulary.
89
Spend less, pay cash and only buy things you can afford. I understand that Trump is a horrible role model, but that does not affect your own responsibility.
1
@Chuck Burton Exactly. There's no country, culture or law-- we are all on our own. Good point!
2
@Lisa: Ask that question of the Consumer Protection Agency, if it still exists (probably now in a broom closet somewhere, since consumers' issues don't matter to this administration). Or let's work on getting Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders into office, and see if we can revive the Consumer Protection Agency from the Trumpublican strangulation efforts.
2
Let's remember that President Trump did not divest himself from his businesses. As the self-described "King of Debt," he has many millions of dollars in outstanding loans on his projects, and most of those loans are through Deutsche Bank with variable interest rates tied to the Fed's rate.
Mr. Trump's suggestion for the Fed to cut its rate below zero does two things: it potentially overheats the economy in the short-term, thereby benefiting his re-election bid. It also benefits his businesses, saving him millions of dollars in potential interest payments.
Just another day for our Grifter-in-Chief.
243
As always, Trump has no idea what he's talking about. He doesn't realize that we've never reduced interest rates below zero, doesn't know that the economy is doing fine and there's no need to reduce the rates, and can't comprehend that making loans less profitable would make banks less likely to give loans.
Just another day for Trump, bellowing about what he doesn't know, ignoring the fact that this is a 9/11 anniversary and no time to be attacking members of his own administration as boneheads.
76
@Dan Stackhouse He also doesn't realize that the constitution (14th amendment) states, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned" - i.e. "renegotiating" the debt is very likely unconstitutional. Not that Trump knows, or cares, what the constitution - any of it - says.
29
@Dan Stackhouse
Agreed Mr. Stackhouse.
And who's the "bonehead" today, of all days?
Incredibly disgraceful and shameful - across the board.
11
@Dan Stackhouse
Don't expect him to honor 9/11. To him it was 7/11, remember?
11
And Trump just can't seem to understand why no one wants to play with him. Can you imagine what Donald must have been like as a child? But we don't need to imagine, do we?
51
How is it the alleged party of fiscal responsibility is not freaking out over this? Trump is in a panic that the economy will collapse and cost him re-election. (Not to mention all the other things working against him.)
Next thing you know he'll be ordering the Treasury to start mailing out checks to everyone in his base - if he can figure out how to do that. (Hey - if he can steal money from the Pentagon for his wall, what can't he do?)
There's one possible good thing about this. Given how willing Trump and others are to overthrow precedent for radical actions, this is making things like going to a basic income, indexing the minimum wage to inflation, and other proposals dismissed as 'radical' look a lot more acceptable.
If Trump is going to attack socialism, the Democrats can attack him for pushing Socialism for the Rich.
63
@Larry Roth
The republicans have given up on fiscal responsibility since Reagan, but they continue to claim they are the only party that can control spending.
4
Reading all the comments, it looks to me that one point is missing. People with savings need to make them grow to keep up with inflation. We invest in stocks, or bonds. When bonds pay little or nothing, we must invest in stocks. When we all do that, the markets rise to new heights. Then Trump says the economy is strong... That isn't necessarily true. Meanwhile of course, Trump with his millions upon millions of debt saves lots of money in interest. It's a win-win for him...
68
@Linda Johnson -- People that need savings are not important, needing savings would mean we are not already rich and therefore not entitled to more tax cuts, or bail outs, or subsidies.
For a much-beeded cash infusion, Trump will probably sell the US to Greenland. He would earn billions, of not trillions, on even a small percentage fee for brokering the transaction.
Oh, did I mention "brokering"?
16
I don't have a lot of socks, certainly not enough to keep a few of them in which to put what remains of my retirement income.
13
I thought government subsidies were anathema to pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps?
Aren't negative interest rates a disincentive to the dignity of work?
21
Another move aimed overwhelmingly to the rich. More trickle down (or swoosh up?) economic move.
It lowers borrowing costs for big companies with the idea that it would stimulate investment and generate jobs. Ho Ho Ho, just like Trump's tax cut for the rich did!
Much of the tax cut went into stock buybacks which artificially boosts stock prices. Lower interest rates will do the same thing, more buybacks, improving the stock market and with no job generation and no benefit to anyone who doesn't have a large amount of stock.
The penalty? to the people who have saved money and need a safe place to put it. That COSTS money rather than pays interest.
49
A few weeks ago Trump was saying that all the other economies were in the tank. Now he says we should do what they do. Which is it? I have to say its taken longer than I expected for the economy to turn down.
39
Trump once described himself as "king of debt". A debtor would love to have negative interest rates,
If the developing recession in Germany spreads and the impact of the trade war with China worsens then the US may have a recession in early 2020. That will reduce his chance for re-election. Once out of office he will be indicted unless he pardons himself. He will do anything to stay in office.
35
I hope Powell and the Fed open market committee takes this as a warning sign of the recklessness of this President, and hold the line against further reduction of interest rates until it is absolutely necessary. After all, Japan has had a negative interest rate policy for more than a decade, and look what has that type of policy done for Japanese economic growth!
29
Trump is correct to be concerned about the economy. Unfortunately Trump's presidency is to fraught with the tweeting of accusations and blame and his attention is not focused enough on what he can do. Trump is responsible for sound long term economic policies and he has a National Economic Council, of people he has appointed to help him. Trump has taken a nationalist position, opted out of the TPP, replaced Yellen with Powell, and has levied tariffs with no apparent understanding of how those tariffs affect the US economy. Instead of occupying all of his time tweeting blame on his appointees, Trump needs to understand that the US is in a global economy and must work together with its allies to create sound long term trading policies - only a "bonehead" would think they had all the answers and go it alone.
37
Repeatedly, Trump has said his tariffs have brought billions into the US treasury, that China is paying big time. This may play with his know-nothing yokel rube base, but anybody with any sense knows it is US businesses and US consumers who pay the tariffs and China may have a downtown in exports to the US but they pay nothing into our treasury. So, Republicans, which is it: Trump is just lying on the hope that enough ignorant voters will buy his lie so he will get enough Electoral College votes to postpone indictment... or he himself is deluded that he’s got money flowing into government coffers through his unique brilliance. Either way he’s a piece of work. Forgive him his debts as we forgive our debtors: that’ll be the day, eh Mr. Potter?
1
Trump hits the panic button over the economy. What does he know that we don’t? Has he been using his sharpie on the employment numbers all this time?
44
He panics because he's out of ideas. And testosterone.
11
And just who would be the major beneficiary of such a policy change by the Fed? In case anyone has any doubts, it would be Trump, his family, the Kushner's and all others who live on borrowed money because they are invested up to the hilt and many of their investments are actually losing money. It is not just the National Debt he wants to take advantage of others on, it is people he owes as well!
82
I'm no economist, but it's easy to see what a bad idea this is. Although the economy is showing some signs of shakiness, due mainly to Trump's erratic trade war(s), it is still fairly strong and stable. What tools will the Fed have if interest rates are further reduced now if or when we slide into a recession? Like most of his "policies", the only reason Trump wants to reduce interest rates is to benefit himself. Not only will he undoubtedly save lots of money, but the more important issue is that he thinks it will keep the economy booming, which will help his reelection campaign. Right now pretty much the only thing he has going for him is a good economy, and he's in a panic that this might change.
50
Our central bank, the Federal Reserve, is independent of politicians and that's a good thing because otherwise a person like trump could use it to help him get re-elected by gaming unemployment and causing the rest of us to face inflation.
18
Trump vs. the Federal Reserve? The Fed, aka the central bank, is tasked, as its principal mission, with preserving the stability of the financial system and striking a balance between inflation and economic growth via prudent monetary policies. It operates independently from the rest of government. Any signal that the Fed's independence is under undue political pressure, especially from a sitting president, directly threatens this crucial role of the central bank. Basic Macroeconomics 101 courses teach the importance of the independence of central banks. As with everything else, however, Trump simply doesn't care. I also don't think he knows. Alert: Trump apparently got a B.A. in business administration from UPenn (not to be confused, by the way, with a Wharton MBA) and presumably this subject was covered. Clearly, he was a poor student and probably cut a lot of classes.
42
The main reason Trump is guarding his tax returns is to prevent confirmation that he is a failed businessman. His father, then his inherited wealth, as well as his money laundering skills (so call “real estate” empire) have propelled his myth. Ok, through the quirkiness of our election system he convinced enough voters in the right places to put him in office. He inherited a good economy, which he hasn’t built on like his processor. Now he wants to tamper with the Fed?
42
The main reason Trump is guarding his tax returns is to prevent confirmation that he is a failed businessman. His father, then his inherited wealth, as well as his money laundering skills (so call “real estate” empire) have propelled his myth. Ok, through the quirkiness of our election system he convinced enough voters in the right places to put him in office. He inherited a good economy, which he hasn’t built on like his processor. Now he wants to tamper with the Fed?
6
Just a really basic question...can typical financial product software (for instance, used for mortgage origination and servicing) even support negative interest rates? Not sure we've ever contemplated being in this kind of environment...
10
@Barb Orzel - That's an excellent question.
His loans must be due and he can't afford the interest repayment.
164
If interest rates go below zero, think of the money Trump and the ultra-wealthy put in their pockets. Corporations (they're people too!) will have a field day.
Those of us encouraged to save for that rainy day have no motive to do anything but put our cash under the mattress.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and who knows what will happen to the banks.
But Trump will get his before being booted out of office.
44
I still don't understand why GOP and Trump don't scrap cabinet and all the federal Govt machinery. I'm sure Trump, his children, and Son-in-Law are the most qualified and best suited people to handle any job- be it national security, foreign policy, economic policy and so on.
I'm sure more than 90% of GOP Congressmen and Senators would also support that idea, whatever crazy it might sound to anyone else!
18
@bonku...Take care what you wish for....it is not beyond him to make it come true. One has to assume that Jared is in the mix for Foreign Policy Advisor. After all look at all the experience he has, and it a given he won't talk back!
12
I don't understand why you're still praising them as a "Grand Old Party." That's just bonkers.
Those initials are not value-neutral. They're a branding statement.
Don't build their brand.
Don't be complicit.
Just call them by their name.
5
@Cityrose869 Jared and his wife seem to be far more influential than anyone in the State Dept!
In fact, Trump did say that his loving daughter is the "most competent" person to become the American representative in the UN, while searching for replacement for Nikki Haley.
8
So speaks a guy who couldn't make a gambling casino profitable even after his father loaned him millions.
Every tiny decline in interest rates saves the Trump companies millions of dollars in borrowing costs and debt servicing. Of course Don wants the rates to drop.
92
I still don't understand why GOP and Trump scrap cabinet and all the federal Govt machinery. I'm sure Trump and his children and Son-in-Law are the most qualified and best suited to handle any job- be it national security, foreign policy, economic policy and so on. I'm sure more than 90% pf GOP Congressmen and Senators would also support this idea, whatever crazy it might sound to anyone else!
7
Of course Trump is pushing for lower interest rates. He stands to save millions of dollars on the hundreds of millions in loans he took on in 2016 from Deutsche Bank. Keeping in mind that nothing Trump does is without an eye to how he can personally benefit, this pressure on the Fed at a time when the US economy is doing well needs to be scrutinized.
34
Not mentioned often enough are the effects of low interest rates on retirement savings. Now Trump proposes even greater burdens on retirees who have the bulk of their money in bonds and money market funds.
43
If the economy is so good, why are lower rates needed?
Is it possible that DJT is just trying hard to lure more money into the stock market?
29
@Cookin
As many others have pointed out, he's trying to save his businesses oodles of dollars in interest payments.
7
@Cookin Never overlook Trump's own venal self-interests in making all decisions affecting the economy.
7
@Cookin
No. Into his own pocket!
3
Either he has done a great job and the economy is booming or he has failed miserably and the economy is in desperate need of help. It can't be both.
The only calculation Trump uses is how does he take from others and give to himself. He will push for any temporary "jolt" the the economy now that might help him get re-elected. Massives deficits, increased government spending, huge corporate tax cuts, negative interest rates etc etc...what about the medium- and long-term consequences? He never cared. Moreover he bets that the millions who vote for him don't really care any more than he does.
We literally have a central bank lowering rates motivated solely to mitigate the the negative effect of his horrendously misguided trade policy. Here is a better solution: undo the horrendous policy.
69
"Either he has done a great job and the economy is booming or he has failed miserably and the economy is in desperate need of help. It can't be both."
Ah, but this is the vile GOP party-cult! For them, doublethink is natural, like how "illegals" are both lazy moochers and taking all our jobs; and facts are not just stubborn things, but annoying distractions from the goal.
6
Trump somehow believes the massive federal debt can be "refinanced" by the Federal Reserve? I was fortunate enough to buy a large quantity of 10-year Treasury Bonds from Oct. to Dec. 2018 when the yield was "upwards" (and a still historically low) of 3.27%. Given the vast increase in the principal as 10-year rates have fallen, I will receive that coupon until 2028 unless I decide to sell in the interim. I know of no mechanism for the federal govt. to "call" higher yielding long term bonds in order to "refinance". Besides, Trump certainly has no clue that the Fed doesn't control long-term interest rates per se. That is the task of the "market".
20
@Miroc
I certainly understand the concept of "refinancing" in the sense of issuing new debt at lower rates when bonds regularly come due. But there are trillions of dollars of bonds extending from 10 to 30 years out. It will be a long time before they're due and they can't be "called". I held 30-year treasury bonds bought at 15% in 1981-82 until 2011-12 and I'm sure the Fed would have loved to call them in at any time during that 30-year period.
5
Thanks Jeanna,
". . . a last-ditch monetary policy tactic tested abroad but never in America." You're right about the last ditch, however, it happened here, late in 1932, when rates went negative at the New York banks. Ask Jim Grant, whose Interest Rate Observer is still worth it. It seems Mr. Market was unsure about the Rookie President, not yet inaugurated, the New York governor FDR, even with his illustrious cousin of blessed memory.
The last time we hired the Republicans to run all three phases of the game the financial system broke down. Animal spirits run amok, or something like that. Hoover didn't know what to do; Mellon said 'liquidate everything" and that is what happened. The Dow, having been to 361 was on its way to 40 -- that's a 90 percent whipping, and a year later at parity with an ounce of gold (as happened again in 1980). The banks would be closed a few months later by the new president. So, now that we are back in the ditch, you may be wondering: what could go wrong? Plenty. So, Keep Calm and Carry Yuan and have a look at a gold chart if you get a chance. Like it or not, it has been a currency accepted around the world for 2,500 years which is a pretty good track record. People believe in gold when they are in the ditch. Why would anyone believe anything certain political animals say about anything?
19
Let’s talk more about how driving down interest rates helps Trump, not just in terms of re-election, but in cold hard dollars. Let’s have the numbers in front of us before we discuss removing the Fed’s leverage over a slowing economy. His business is massively debt-driven, and I imagine that even fractional differences in interest sum to millions of dollars lost or gained every year for Trump Incorporated. For Trump, the buck doesn’t stop at the Resolute desk, but in his bank account.
242
Trump claimed his tax cuts would be "rocket fuel" for the economy, producing GDP growth of over 4% a year.
Now he's begging the Fed for repeated shots of heroin to create the high he promised all his friends. Heaven help us all if there's another recession on the horizon. Trump is chewing through every remedy we have available to treat the hangover of bad economic policy.
110
Brilliant plan by a master of money relying on his past success. Get the US government in such debt trouble that it has to declare bankruptcy. He has never before had such a chance to make the hugeist bankruptcy ever.
33
@AS Pruyn
He also stated today, he wants to "refinance" the trillions of debt the country owes. Hmmm. A country in bankruptcy ahead? What a loser president.
5
Negative interest rates, really trying to wrap my head around that one... Doesn't that mean that in addition to receiving a loan the lender would pay the borrow for the privileged? Or people who save money would have to pay an additional fee in the form of negative interest for the bank to keep their savings?
Need more coffee for this one....
71
@NBrooke
WhenI first saw the headline I assumed it was one of DT's senility fantasies.
Yes, could someone on this thread please, please explain what sense negative interest could possibly make?? Why use it? How does it work?
And how could any government risk creating such an investment disincentive?
2
@NBrooke: Who except borrowers would benefit from negative interest rates? The banks would lose customers in droves.
1
“The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, and we should then start to refinance our debt,”
When he refers to "our" debt, is really referring to his debt? Nothing this man says is believable anymore.
129
@Young Geezer
"When he refers to "our" debt, is really referring to his debt?"
He's referring to "our" debt - the debt of D.J. Trump, D.J. Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump. . .
14
Self-interest is always uppermost in Trump's calculation. He wants zero and negative rates for the benefit of his troubled businesses.
86
Trump clearly wants to devalue the dollar. He criticizes China and then he wants to act like them.
27
@Suttdr
Remember when the GOP was oh-so-worried about Obama's modest stimulus package devaluing the dollar?
But that was always hypocrisy. Just like their concern over deficits.
14
I wonder if Trump's demand that the Fed cut interest rates has to do with his family's personal finances. The Trump Organization holds millions worth of debt. Is refinancing those properties in his sights? And, lowering the Fed interest rate will have the affect of increasing stock market indices, just in time for him to crow about market gains during his tenure. I just wonder. He is a sly fox.
34
@EMiller
Not sly, just terrified that he will lose reelection. And a dollar.
7
So the self styled “king of debt” would now literally be making money off the money he borrows to build his properties. This president’s graft is never ending.
178
Today's declaration by Trump is his establishment of an electoral alibi. In the playground of his feeble mind, Trump must demand negative interest rates and vehemently criticize the Fed so that, when the economy tanks - which is now quite possible - he can say "It wasn't my fault, I demanded that they change course but they didn't."
The Caligula presidency rolls on.
165
@RR more like Nero. He's setting the country on fire.
8
@RR
Don’t you know, it’s NEVER his fault. He is simply incapable of making a single mistake. That’s just how great he is. Because, he knows more about everything than anyone. After all, he said so on television many, many times.
That people, let alone millions of Americans, believe this is the real travesty.
3
Spot on!!!! It will always be someone else’s fault.
1
this push for lower interest rates to spur growth to the promised '3% or more' is related to only one thing - 2020 election.
Not sure what Trump's voters with a few hundred (or maybe few thousand) dollars in their savings accounts may say about this. Probably just another move of a stable genius.
27
@zumzar
Trump's voters have no idea how the Fed's rates affect the economy. All they know is that FOX News keeps telling them Trump has created the best economy ever, and he desperately needs to avoid letting reality become obvious enough to drown out that drumbeat.
25
Curious that someone who claims to have billions in the bank would want interest rates to go *down,* a move that generally punishes savers. Either DJT is very, very altruistic in the service of his country or — could it be? — he doesn’t have the wealth that he claims?
114
@Anson
I'm not sure trump ever said that he had billions "in the bank" but I am sure that he's counting on the ignorance of the American public to completely misunderstand the effect that a rate change would have on his personal fortune.
3
The question is: Who's to gain from this path of no interest?
25
@Ray Prather He is, would save him tens of millions annually on his real estate loans. It’s all for him.
44
When Trump went bankrupt as a businessman, he was bailed out by the banks and New York City. What he doesn’t understand is that if he bankrupts the nation, there is no bailout available.
137
@Judith Nelson - Trump was also repeatedly bailed out by daddy Fred Trump while he was alive. This president is used to being bailed out. He expects it. He would be nothing without it.
15
@Judith Nelson
His properties could revert to the ownership of the Federal government including Mar a Lago which the Feds sold to Trump in the 1980s. On WikiP..
@Judith Nelson It's our loss not his. He doesn't care, just passes the blame to others.
2
Negative interest rates hurt small savers.
Small savers do not benefit from stock ownership.
Thrift and planning for the future should be rewarded.
278
There was a time, not too long ago, when that was the motto of the republican party.
5
Yes, take national economic advice from someone who bankrupted 3 casinos, an airline, shuttered a fraudulent university while paying a $25 million fine, and fantasizes that tariffs don’t affect consumer prices.
What could possibly go wrong?
899
@Troy exactly.
14
@Troy: Simple rule of thumb: in every single thing that Trump does, look for his self interest. The man has probably not acting in the interest of another human in his entire life. In this case, he wants insane jolts to the economy to make himself look great. Who cares about the long-term consequences? Same as the monster tax cuts for the wealthy that jacked our deficit ever higher.
24
Powell has been a surprise, showing a streak of independence. Ditto some of the people at the National Weather Service (but not the NOAA administrator).
Could we be entering a new era? Trump is looking weaker, stupider, and crazier than ever. Maybe there really is a tipping point, when even Republicans will start to push back?
21
As a big business owner, having the government pay you to take their money (not just give you money, but pay you on top of that) only makes sense for the business owner. It makes no sense for the lender, especially where the business climate is one in which business' are raking in record profits. For the head of the government, i.e. the lender, this is an abrogation of his duty to act in a responsible way to protect the treasury as any good fiduciary would do. I won't even bother to point out impeachability, as the dems have thrown that out the window. But Trump is very publicly and obviously failing to fulfill his oath of office, and instead only acting in a manner to enrich himself and his grifter family business.
311
@David It may or may not be counter-intuitive, but impeachment would be a gross political mistake for Democrats because Trump is driving the 2020 election toward a decisive, really decisive Democratic victory. He is, in fact, a political advantage for Democrats running for the House and Senate and for whoever becomes the presidential nominee.
21
@FDNYMom GOP is always the first to wrap themselves up the flag while undermining the constitution and selling out our country to server their own ends and wealthy friends.
53
Would be nice if that were true. But the election in Carolina makes that questionable. Unfortunately, trump still has a svengali effect on die hard Republicans; many of them leaving the polls admitted as much - they voted for Wilson because they wanted to support the president. There is much work to be done. I understand that the Senate will not support an impeachment resolution but I'm also not sure that voters will vote him out of office.
12
From what I've seen, the trumps have no money, only debts. Massive debts. Less than zero% interest rates would be nice for people who have no money, but have huge debts, right? See? Not complicated.
691
@p meaney
This is why he is grubbing-for $$$ at his properties. Get the tax returns and bank records; now.
21
@p meaney Do you suppose some of his major creditors are dunning him - either for cash or for "favors?"
5
This is evidence of Trump’s desperation to get re-elected in order to avoid the consequences of his corruption. He would do anything to artificially juice the economy despite the impact that would have on the future economic stability of our country. Hopefully Jay Powell and the other Fed “boneheads” will have the strength and courage to continue resisting his pressure and doing the right and responsible thing in setting monetary policy.
439
@RockP Let's see how easily he gets reelected when people's savings accounts start losing money every month from a negative interest rate. He'd be the first president to get less than 10% of the vote.
38
@Kal Al
You seem to think that Trump's voters (except for the 0.1% of the 0.1%) actually have any money in the bank. In the words of Arnold Schwarzenegger in that movie that I'm the only person who actually like, "BIG mistake."
12
@RockP Doing the right thing in this administration is a one way ticket to a box of your things and an escort out of the building
5
Why would anyone listen to a perpetual bankrupt. As for trump's business acumen - I'm not seeing it.
328
The words “Trump” and “business acumen” are by definition, mutually exclusive.
25
@Finnie His "business acumen" is a myth created by Mark Burnett to sell a reality TV show.
6
Negative interest rates are a live topic among economists, in case of a recession (not right now, though!). There are a lot of difficulties involved in implementing them, though. First, it's not at all clear that the Fed can legally do it: the Fed pays interest on the reserves banks maintain at the Fed. The wording of the law giving the Fed that ability may not allow the Fed to set a negative interest rate on reserves (charge banks a fee to hold money on deposit). If the interest rate on reserves can't fall below zero, other rates won't. Second, if bank deposit rates, rates on money market funds and t-bills, etc., go much below zero, I suspect most people would just hold a lot of cash--the interest rate on cash is, of course, zero.
48
Just another example of Trump's self-obsession.
He doesn't care if reducing interests rates is the right thing to do for the US economy...
He desperately wants to get re-elected and hopes that drastic reductions in interest rates will prop-up the economy until October 2020.
157
@Engineer He is desperate for being selected again for 2 reasons
His ego
Staying out of jail
The day the Democratic president swears the Oath January 20, 2021 he will be indicted for Obstruction and in the SDNY Cohen case, for starters
8