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Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(128,712 posts)
Sun Aug 31, 2025, 02:47 PM Aug 31

How the Fed losing its independence could affect Americans' everyday lives

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s attempt to fire a member of the Federal Reserve’s governing board has raised alarms among economists and legal experts who see it as the biggest threat to the central bank’s independence in decades.

The consequences could impact most Americans’ everyday lives: Economists worry that if Trump gets what he wants — a loyal Fed that sharply cuts short-term interest rates — the result would likely be higher inflation and, over time, higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages, car loans and business loans.

Trump on Monday sought to fire Lisa Cook, the first Black woman appointed to the Fed’s seven-member governing board. It was the first time in the Fed’s 112-year history that a president has tried to fire a governor.

Trump said he was doing so because of allegations raised by one of his appointees that she has committed mortgage fraud.

https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-trump-powell-cook-interest-rates-65f53b88f35f6fd4c670ce43efd6d852

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How the Fed losing its independence could affect Americans' everyday lives (Original Post) Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Aug 31 OP
Nixonian redux of Arthur Burns bucolic_frolic Aug 31 #1
Yes I remember the double digit inflation on the Nixon years Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Aug 31 #3
If she did commit serious mortgage fraud, it still doesn't arise to the mortgage and other fraud committed by trump. Silent Type Aug 31 #2
I have a question. House of Roberts Aug 31 #4

bucolic_frolic

(52,407 posts)
1. Nixonian redux of Arthur Burns
Sun Aug 31, 2025, 02:59 PM
Aug 31
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_F._Burns

Burns's relationship with Nixon was often rocky. Reflecting in his diary about a 1971 meeting attended by himself, Nixon, Treasury Secretary John Connally, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, and the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, Burns wrote:

The President looked wild; talked like a desperate man; fulminated with hatred against the press; took some of us to task – apparently meaning me or [chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Paul] McCraken or both – for not putting a gay and optimistic face on every piece of economic news, however discouraging; propounded the theory that confidence can be best generated by appearing confident and coloring, if need be, the news.[10]

There was significant inflation during this period, which Nixon attempted to manage through wage and price controls while the Fed under Burns increased the money supply. Although Burns opposed Nixon's decision to close the "gold window," he "'assured the President that I would support his new program fully,' notwithstanding his reservations about the gold suspension."[10] After the 1972 election, due in part to oil shocks from the 1973 oil crisis, price controls began to fail and by 1974, the inflation rate was 12.3 percent.

Silent Type

(11,139 posts)
2. If she did commit serious mortgage fraud, it still doesn't arise to the mortgage and other fraud committed by trump.
Sun Aug 31, 2025, 03:01 PM
Aug 31

I think every Prez has asked the Fed to lower rates when they get high. But I don't know of any who has tried to fire board members or bash them in public.

That bullying for short-term gain ain't good. Sad thing is, if trump's economy tanks, he'll blame fed, courts, etc., and his supporters will believe him.

House of Roberts

(6,240 posts)
4. I have a question.
Sun Aug 31, 2025, 03:10 PM
Aug 31

Why would cutting short-term interest rates result in higher borrowing costs for things like mortgages, car loans and business loans. It seems to me if the rate the banks pay goes down, the rates they charge would drop also?

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