STAT FIGHT! Who’s right on economy—The Donald or The Fed?

We’re upping our STAT FIGHT game today. Until now, we’ve been content to incite arguments at your dinner table over personal finances, but today, we’re bringing the fight to the hallowed halls of the White House and Federal Reserve. Get ready for a political economy STAT FIGHT!

So what are we arguing about today? Well, the same thing as the President. Trump threw mud at the Federal Reserve on Twitter today, saying the U.S. economy is strong “despite” what the Fed’s doing.

Despite the unnecessary and destructive actions taken by the Fed, the Economy is looking very strong, the China and USMCA deals are moving along nicely, there is little or no Inflation, and USA optimism is very high!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 4, 2019

Trump says this even though the Fed (which has remained apolitical and focused solely on price stability and full employment for decades) decided not to raise interest rates.

So “despite” the Fed changing course and making the stock market very happy by not raising rates, it’s still being unnecessary and destructive? And to tweet this on the morning the Department of Labor announces that unemployment insurance claims are the lowest they’ve been in 50 years?!

WTF!

Trump and his economic team think the Fed isn’t doing enough to rev up the economy. They’re hungry for growth and want the Fed to pull all the levers to get the economy moving faster. Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the Fed should lower interest rates last week to grease the economy’s wheels.

But Kudlow, a decades-long political operative, is just pushing this so things stay good through the 2020 election, right?

Most economists think an economic slowdown is inevitable this late in a boom cycle. The Fed seems like it’s done a good job of reading the room and adjusting its monetary policy to fit the data, but here’s where we turn it over to you.

Is it all politics? Or is the economy really in need of even more Fed help right now? Who’s got the better plan for the economy? Who’s right? The Donald or The Fed?

Now go get into a STAT FIGHT! And Be Best…
___
Reference:

– Trump Says U.S. Economy Doing Well Despite ‘Destructive’ Fed (Bloomberg)

– Initial Jobless Claims For Week Ending March 30 (United States Department of Labor)