ECONOMY/FEDERAL RESERVE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump on Friday [4-5-19] called on the Federal Reserve to take drastic action to support the U.S. economy, about an hour after new data showed strong jobs numbers and healthy wage growth…He also said the central bank should restart its bond-buying program known as ‘quantitative easing,’ a measure taken by the Fed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to stop the collapse of the housing market and restart the economy. Trump is escalating his long-running battle with the Fed, which he has accused of being the ‘only problem’ facing the economy. He pressed Chairman Jerome Powell for months to halt the central bank’s interest-rate-hike campaign, but is now calling on the Fed to stimulate growth. He has also said he intends to nominate two Fed governors who say they support rate cuts. Since late 2017, the Fed has been shrinking its bond holdings. It also raised interest rates four times last year to keep prices from rising too rapidly and to wean the economy off cheap debt that could eventually start to threaten the stability of the financial system. That rate hike campaign has now been put on hold while the central bank monitors slowing growth abroad.”
–Victoria Guida, “Trump calls on Fed to turn U.S. economy into ‘rocket ship’,” Politico, April 5, 2019 11:32 am