Tweet of the Absurd

I feel sorry for Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell – and on those days Donald Trump performs an unscheduled brain-dump of his manifest ignorance of all things economic I feel particularly sympathetic.  It is obvious to me that Trump is beginning to become fidgety and a wee bit nervous about his one-size-fits-all policy of trade tariffs.  And as a consequence he has been listening to the whisperings of others about the economy possibly beginning to slow this year and into election year 2020.   Sadly, Mr. Trump is caving to the uninformed chatter of the media (mainstream and otherwise) because he is uninformed and weak of economic will.  He watches too much cable television.
 

In predictably Trump form and style he is cowardly laying the ground work for someone to blame for his ham-fisted tax and trade policies if things go south.  Never one to accept personal responsibility for anything - Donald Trump is lining-up a fall guy.    
 

To my readers I would suggest that the Fed has done exactly what a central bank is expected to do in times of strong growth and high employment – raise interest rates to create room to act in a future slowdown.  I haven’t been retired long enough to forget this simple lesson. 

Duh.   
 

Moreover, I think that as most pusillanimous people do Mr. Trump is premature in his evasions.  Is the economy at the precipice of a recession?  I think not.  With a federal funds rate at 2.375 and $1.4 trillion of excess reserves in the system a recession would be a low probability event and a rate cut hardly warranted.  At this point in time the economy is bullet-proof.  Of course, my information comes from reading, rereading and digesting information and data much longer than ten second sound-bites that are read to me.

Seriously, if you can borrow at less than 2.5% is that going to dissuade you from business investment? 

Duh. 

This is what ten second cable sound-bites has wrought.  And as a consequence, Donald Trump will change his tune whenever winds blow the other way.  And, of-course, his followers, believers, adherents, apologists and minions of any intelligence quotient will twist themselves into pretzels to rationalize his nonsense.  It has really become quite absurd.

It’s not your father’s Chamber of Commerce GOP any longer. 

All aboard the Trump Train….