Trump Intensifies Pressure on Powell: He’s Really Bad! The US Interest Rate Should Be Below 1%!

Cailian Press, July 15th (Editor: Bian Chun)
Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump has intensified his criticism of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. On Monday local time, he once again harshly criticized Powell for not cutting interest rates.
“Our Federal Reserve Chairman is terrible, really terrible,” Trump stated at the White House, “I’ve tried to be polite to him, but it didn’t work.”
Trump once again labeled Powell as “stupid,” and expressed his belief that interest rates should be below 1%. “Our rates should be at 1%, we should be below 1%,” he said.
The federal funds rate target range currently stands at 4.25%-4.50%. This means that to reach the level Trump desires, the U.S. interest rate needs to be cut by more than 300 basis points.
Analysts suggest that a low interest rate of 1% is not good for the American economy, as such low rates are usually the response to severe economic distress. Over the past two decades, the Federal Reserve’s policy rate of 1% often coincided with high unemployment rates of up to 6% or even higher.
Currently, the Trump administration and Powell are engaged in a new round of conflict over the expensive renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters, which opens a new front for Trump’s attacks on Powell.
Last month, during a Senate Banking Committee hearing, South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott questioned Powell about the renovation expenses of the Federal Reserve headquarters, including luxury facilities. Powell responded that there were no VIP restaurants, no new marble, no dedicated elevators, no new water features, no beehives, and no rooftop terrace gardens. He admitted to cost overruns in the renovation project but refuted the notion that it was too luxurious.
On Thursday last week, Russell Wade, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), criticized Powell for “serious management failures” at the Federal Reserve and implied that Powell had misled Congress about the costly and extravagant renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters.
Earlier this month, William Purt, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, claimed that Powell made false statements about the details of the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation during a Senate hearing on June 25th, asserting that these statements constituted “just cause” for dismissal and calling for an investigation by Congress.
Faced with the intense offensive launched by the Trump administration, Powell is attempting to defend himself. Last Friday, the Federal Reserve responded on its website regarding the cost overruns in the renovation of the headquarters building, stating that the overruns were due to design adjustments, cost fluctuations, and some unforeseen circumstances, and mentioned that there was a complete supervision mechanism for this renovation project.
Furthermore, according to news reports on Monday, Powell has requested the OMB Inspector General Michael Horowitz to review the costs involved in the renovation of the Federal Reserve headquarters building.
Last week, Trump stated that if allegations of misleading congress members about the Federal Reserve headquarters renovation are true, then Powell should “immediately resign.”