Did the Federal Reserve know something about the American economy the rest of us didn’t when they dropped interest rates by half a percent?
Stupid question. Of course, they did. It’s their job to parse the numbers, and now we know why they did what amounted to an emergency rate cut: the economy sucks.
ECONOMY: Layoffs jump in August while hiring in 2024 is at a historic low, Challenger report shows. https://t.co/3iF5Wu959Y
— @amuse (@amuse) September 20, 2024
Unlike many people I wasn’t convinced that Jerome Powell led the charge to reduce interest rates in order to save Kamala Harris’ failing campaign to win the presidency. That’s not because Powell doesn’t want Harris to win (I can’t mind read), but because a rate cut in mid-September is pretty late to have much effect on the election.
The more obvious explanation is that the economy is in deep trouble, and the latest jobs…
