by Ryan McMaken
Mises.org
The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets this week and is expected to keep its target policy interest rate (the federal funds rate) unchanged at 4.5 percent.
This is unlikely to please Donald Trump who has repeatedly pushed Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and the FOMC to adopt a lower target interest rate and further force down interest rates on federal debt. Moreover, Trump has signaled that he wants the US central bank to be more like the European Central Bank which has been more aggressively forcing down interest rates in recent months.
Trump Wants More Easy Money from the Fed
Last week, Trump met with Powell and called Powell a “numbskull” for not forcing down interest rates enough to suit Trump’s personal whims. But the messaging this time was a little different. In the past, Trump has tended to demand lower interest rates for purposes of monetary stimulus. This time, Trump is openly admitting that he wants lower interest rates to make federal debt cheaper. NBC reported last week: