Nutella wrote:
jkhayc wrote:
Nutella wrote:
Biden inherited chaos from Trump. He has brought inflation down from 9.06% to 3.15%. He turned Trump's 14% unemployment to todays 3.8%. Lowered gas prices by $1.70 per gallon. Turned Trump's flaccid economy into the best economy in the world. *
... *The reality is the President has limited direct control over the economy.
your asterisk is pretty important there.The Trump folks have some delusions of how they might be able to influence the economy for political gain.
Trump Allies Draw Up Plans to Blunt Fed’s Independence - WSJ Quote:
Donald Trump’s allies are quietly drafting proposals that would attempt to erode the Federal Reserve’s independence if the former president wins a second term, in the midst of a deepening divide among his advisers over how aggressively to challenge the central bank’s authority.
Former Trump administration officials and other supporters of the presumptive GOP nominee have in recent months discussed a range of proposals, from incremental policy changes to a long-shot assertion that the president himself should play a role in setting interest rates. A small group of the former president’s allies—whose work is so secretive that even some prominent former Trump economic aides weren’t aware of it—has produced a roughly 10-page document outlining a policy vision for the central bank, according to people familiar with the matter.
I think we can all agree this is batshit crazy.
It’s not crazy because it happens in other countries. Many presidents want more monetary control. President Erdogan of Turkey put patsies in the CBRT and forced interests rates down to very negative real rates, and it nearly sunk the economy. He has since relented and allowed saner people to run monetary policy, and things have improved somewhat (though many challenges remain). There is an ongoing spat between the government and central bank in Thailand. Poland’s former Law and Justice Party had heavy influence over its central bank governor Adam Glapinksi (who slashed interest rates last Sept and Oct in the run up to elections), and Poland’s new PM Donald Tusk is now pushing back to get the NBP back to independence. Other countries have done stellar work to ensure central bank independence, including Brazil in recent years through legislation.
The question is whether we want this country to remain one of the standard bearers for sound economic policy, or become a tin pot nation with a wannabe dictator who has control of every aspect of running the country, much for his own personal interests.