Fed keeps rates unchanged but decision is contentious…
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Looking at the March PCE inflation data (PCE +0.7% at 3.5% and core PCE +0.3% at 3.2%), some of the objections sounded like political maneuvering to me. Not much Fed can do to fix one without messing up further the other. Fed is still stuck between comatose job market (lowest hiring rate since 1969 and unemployment at 4.3%), mediocre GDP (2%) and inflation above 3% and rising due to the Trump war oil crisis.
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By objections do you mean the FOMC dissents? There were 4. One voted in favor of a quarter cut, the other three wanted to remove the messaging about “additional adjustments” to the rate, which sounds like they do not expect any further cuts and do not want anyone else to expect them either.
I meant the 3 dissents against the language of additional adjustments yes. It felt like grandstanding to me. In another era, they would have simply not dissented considering how minor the objection they had on the decision.
Certainly not grandstanding against the FOMC consensus on the rate. Do you mean grandstanding in opposition to the president’s wishes to lower the rates? It’s certainly not presented this way in any of the news articles, which lead with “the most dissents ever” before going into the little details.
It seems to me like positioning themselves in the opposition to rate cuts as a new Chairman appointed by Trump takes charge.
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Even taking into account energy costs due to the Trump war, core CPI at +0.4% (2.8% 12-month) seems to be drifting further from the Fed target.
I guess the BLS is at it again releasing “rigged” numbers to make the administration look bad ahead of the midterms. 
Which I guess explains why Warsh is suddenly talking about moving the goal posts with trimmed-mean CPE fudging…
I hope the Treasury doesn’t extend this inflation data rigging to the CPI-U adjustment on my TIPS.
April Producer Price Index not looking too auspicious for near-term inflation expectations either …
Although Trump just told the WSJ that it was temporary … or did he mean it is transitory? LOL
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Fed Chair nominee confirmed by the Senate…
Rate cuts might have to wait…
Some people didn’t learn from watching Putin’s adventures in Ukraine.
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The Bee is wrong on this**
Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, told the House Armed Services Committee that Operation Epic Fury, combined with the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure last year, set back Iran’s ability to wage war by more than four decades.
“Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis have been cut off from the decades-long flow of military supplies, thus mitigating and eliminating any chance of a future Oct. 7,” he said.
Cooper also estimated the US had wiped out roughly 85% of Iran’s ability to produce more ballistic missiles and drones.
The war so far has aimed to wipe out Iran’s “three pillars of intimidation and coercion: their nuclear program, their ballistic missiles and drones, and their proxies — especially Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis,” all three of which have been addressed in different ways.
While nuclear is currently being handled through negotiations, Cooper said the military since Feb. 28 has “significantly degraded Iran’s ballistic missiles and drones, while destroying 90% of their defense industrial base, ensuring that Iran cannot reconstitute for years.”
“Iran spent decades and billions of dollars arming proxies. Today, Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are cut off from Iran’s weapons supply and support,” he said. “Said a different way, America, American military action derailed Iran’s strategy that was 47 years in the making.”
So, one of the main agents responsible for the success of the Iran War strategy defended his job performance by stating that this has not done anything to reduce Iran’s nuclear capabilities and that maybe we will have avoided Israel potential future conflict at the modest cost of hundreds of billions of American taxpayer money (and so far 14 American lives)?
It’d almost be funny (as in dog-ate-my-homework level excuse) if it didn’t sound to me like justifying the making of another lengthy and costly Vietnam 2.0 quagmire of our own doing. One that I’m reminded of weekly at the pump…
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Are you kidding me? That’s the biggest stinkiest bunch of bullshit I’ve heard all year. Nothing takes four decades to build. They would probably have had to turn everything into a giant parking lot, suck out all the oil, and “reduce” the population by 10x to set back their ability to wage war by more than 40 years.
Not to worry, Iranian drones can be made in Russia. Even if that number is correct, there’s no reason to think they can’t restore previous production levels quickly.
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It is interesting how desperately leftists like you want the United States to fail in trying to take down the world‘s largest exporter of terrorism. You want to ignore that, as documented quantitatively by the testimony, the war is succeeding.
The only hard evidence you provide is the number of soldiers who have died by accidents and the price of gasoline.
yes, the soldier’s deaths are tragedies, but compare them, for example, to the 19 who were killed by the Iranians at the Khabar barracks bombing during the Clinton administration.
Not to mention the number that the Iranians would kill if they were able to develop nuclear weapons.
You also point to price of gasoline but provide no perspective. it is still less than the peak during the last Democrat administration
I hate to disappoint you, but the United States is winning.
Why is that our job to be the world’s police? Wasn’t it the meaning of the promise to not get us into foreign wars?
If we’ve won, how are they still holding the Strait of Hormuz? What’s taking so long? And for someone who’s lost, Iran don’t seem so eager to capitulate any time soon. Besides these drones cost $50k to produce. I doubt it’ll take them decades to rebuild their construction capability, especially not with their oil money.
What has this Iran War accomplished on that front? As far as I could tell, Cooper admitted it did not move the needle on this. And it seemed to me that we just demonstrated that we can handle their conventional capabilities…
That’s the new benchmark? Oh everybody rejoice for this is not as bad as when inflation was running nearly 10%/yr. That was a shitshow then. How is it acceptable now? You did sound concerned back then at least …
Even then, that 2022 inflation spike was caused by the irresponsible fiscal stimuli of both the Trump (2020) and Biden (2021) administrations both printing money (AKA hoping to buy votes) like there’s no tomorrow. But at least that was partially excusable on the basis of a response to the impact of an unpredictable pandemic. Not the case here, the Trump Iran War was 100% our initiative in our decision to do Israel’s bidding.
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