Glibness, shining teeth, and preposterous sycophancy are not what we want in a Fed president.
I like our Fed chiefs to look burdened by the weight of their responsibilities, have sparkling intellects and measure their own worthiness by their impact on society and history.
Their eyes should be glued to the well being of our children, not the number of likes on their latest Facebook post,
Trump, a self-proclaimed 'genius', is very suspicious of anyone with genuine intelligence. Sadly, that means at least 50% of the US population are too smart for their own good.
Apologies, it's not within my gift to "place" Trump, or anyone else, as 'intelligent'. However, his actions and words speak for themselves. For example:
“The 2020 election was stolen.”
“Thousands and thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated on 9/11.”
“COVID-19 will disappear… like a miracle.”
“99% of COVID cases are totally harmless.”
“We built the wall. We completed the wall.”
“We had the best economy in the history of the world.”
“I had the largest inauguration crowd in history.”
“Climate change is a hoax… invented by China.”
Are these the words of a rational, intelligent man of honour. Of a statesman, leader of the USA and the free world?
I have seen enough questionable decisions and behavior to seriously wonder about his *true intelligence *. It certainly is nowhere near the level he claims.
But in a sense, that's the underlying reason some people dislike intelligence and intelligent people: Someone else's powers of perception shine a light on their corruption, ignorance, and/or stupidity. The last thing they want is to be seen.
... which is why Republicans can't have kids being educated. Children have the best bullshit detectors, so Republicans do their best to demolish that.
The problem with many of the 'intelligensia' is that they have a knack, consciously, or otherwise, of looking down on those they perceive to be less educated.
Why do so many poor, disenfranchised people believe the MAGA nonsense and vote against their own better interests? Because they believe it's preferable to being 'smart shamed' by those they see as self-entitled know-it-all's.
The right wing echo chamber knows how to appeal to the white working class and so they get them watching. And what the right wing echo chamber discovered is that you can’t just promote the “achievements” of the right wing because like with the Iraq War it can turn into a disaster. So the right wing echo chamber ends up focusing a lot of energy on vilifying Democrats making them unelectable in the eyes of their watchers. So a recent example is Republican voters aren’t aware that a Trump military operation killed a little American girl and 9 of her little friends…but they know all about the Obama drone strike that killed her brother and father.
Oh I ran into one of those on the Republican side day before yesterday. She looked down on me because she believed she had been more successful than I. This when she herself has to live in subsidized housing. What she didn't know when she said that people who were in terrible circumstances, were probably born to fail, showed no empathy at all for life difficulties. What she didn't know and I didn't tell her was I too had been once upper middle class and had attended one of the finest prep schools in the nation and had worked on numerous political campaigns, but blow after blow had landed me here too. I told her I had no time to discuss this train of thought that led to Nazi thinking, and walked away smiling. Her whole entitled attitude tone of voice told me she was hopeless until life taught her more.
It's interesting how some people view success and failure as a moral choice. The "hard working" are successful, those that "fail" must be lazy. Life simply isn't like that! As the saying goes, "Man makes his plans, and the gods laugh".
At this point, though, I'm only interested in looking up to our leaders for their integrity and intelligence. Right now I only see the pitch black of a moonless night.
The problem is partly the uneducated & ignorant feel left out by those who easily understand the issues.
They are prone to feel cheated and/or mislead, since they often don't have a clue. So they are open to bombastic (but ignorant) pied pipers like Trump.
The solution is quality education for everyone. which will take time.
As Mencken said, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong".
Populist, on both the Left and Right, are masters at distilling issues into binary choices that the electorate can understand. For example, "tariffs bring back jobs" - without explaining the wider implications.
Few problems are simple. Solving the Russia/Ukraine conflict was never going to be "done in a day". Sadly, people want quick, easy solutions and vote for politicians that promise them that.
And Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court because Bush ordered Senator Collins to confirm him after Trump was considering pulling his nomination. ACB is also a Bush Republican promoted by McGahn and Leo and McConnell.
Yes, Bush called Colins personally and urged her to vote for Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh was Bush’s right hand man and supported torture and so it’s a travesty he’s on the Supreme Court.
Yes! At this point there is no person redeemable left in the Republican Party, which is why I vehemently tell people to vote a straight ticket Blue! Is everyone aware that the Young Republicans of New York State are getting ready to throw a gala soon for the leader of the new Nazi Party in Germany! Totally unredeemable Party as a whole, and the young ones are the worst of all!
Ding ding ding!! I would go further and tell people to vote straight Democrat and try not to read too much about politics because the GOP and unfortunately mainstream media will get you “lost in the weeds” and can only confuse people. So I canceled both my NYTimes and WaPo subscriptions even though they were very cheap. I might re-subscribe to NYTimes but I want WaPo to go out of business for stabbing Biden in the back. Trump is awful and the GOP must be defeated…I will vote for any Democrat from AOC to Shapiro.
You would be poker-face too if you had to sit and listen to that charade! Major Hegseth (Who?) lecturing two, three and four star commanders boggles the mind. Is this the height of satire?
And a big thank you to Dr Krugman and Dr Wells for their prolific and informative writing, their extensive expertise, and their dedication to this work. Thank you!
So Johnny Lee Hooker was Robin's choice....I remember sitting outside at a patio table of a sports bar one sunny day next to a homeless guy originally from UK, a retired hair stylist from a former upscale salon, where the incredibly talented owner ended up a street walker drug addict I had heard, & a younger Black guy dropped by and showed a clip on his cell phone of Johnny Lee Hooker stating that was his uncle. I swear, it is like Weimar Germany here to be surrounded by such down & out creatives...I looked up the person who claimed his uncle was JLH--which could be true. The supposed nephew had been in the pen & the pen website had a statement to such as not to discriminate against this person nor post derogatory pics of him, etc. What was the point of that moralizing when his pen pic was on the internet? Johnny Lee Hooker is top notch!
I think Hassett is going to be very short term. Mainly because he's not a good economist, and seems to be kind of dim (from what I've read here and elsewhere). The other FED governors and employees are going to run rings around him intellectually. The cats are not going to obey, and Hassett is going to look really, really bad. The broader business/finance community is going to be beating the drums of replacement.
Let's hope so, but if so, Trump will surely find someone equally as unqualified to fill the bill. I notice that all of Trump's worst appointments seem to have negative returns to scale. That is, the worse the performance and impact on our society (Scott Bessett is a shining example), the more influence they appear to have on Trump's decision making. There's just no way out.
That is because Trump is basically Anti-American and anti-people too. He doesn't just want vengeance and retribution on individuals, but on all of us for not loving him enough. What an embarrassment it was, to lose the election in 2020!
But in the meantime, you think Hassett is going to be able to resist Trump's demands and think independently, like Powell can? Forget it.
I guess from all those "holiday shoppers who don’t want to spend more," Hassett will be looking for eggs and gas under the tree this year. Happy holidays, Kev!
I don't know how many demands Trump himself is really making these days. The opaque Truth Social posts aren't running the Federal Government these days, are they?
At this point I wonder how many of them (Hassett, Kennedy, Wright, Noem, etc.) are going to be intimidated by backroom boys running things behind a sleepy, demented Trump.
Look at little further out. We're not even a year into the disastrous second Trump term. He will continue to slowly capture the Fed Governors and Reserve Bank Presidents as well. Then there will be no guardrails.
They learned from the first Trump term that it's a mistake to appoint anyone with a conscience or a brain, as loyalty is now the most important (really only) trait. Everyone else is purged.
The threshold for appointment to critical public office needs to be higher than the Brittany Spears threshold, "has been found competent by the court to manage her own affairs."
Jonathan Last's Triad today imagined what would happen with Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury and Hassett was Fed Chair? He started by pointing out that people were laughing at Bessent's idiotic answers at the Dealbook shindig with Andew Ross Sorkin. And then he says:
"When the global financial system melted down in 2008, Henry Paulson was SecTreas. When the crisis first appeared, in March 2008, Paulson had to arrange a debt guarantee in order to prevent Bear Stearns from failing; then he was able to arrange a sale of Bear to JPMorgan Chase. This calmed the markets enough to buy time until the next domino collapsed with the Lehman Brothers default in September.
Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke did not manage the crisis perfectly. But they weren’t hacks. They were respected professionals and when they spoke, the markets, the banks, the public, and the various players in global economy didn’t assume—just as a matter of course—that they were lying hacks playing to an audience of one. Nobody laughed at them.
And because they commanded respect they were able to prevent the cascade from being even worse.
I ask this seriously: Imagine what would happen if, next year, we had a 2008-style crisis and Bessent and Hassett were sitting in those chairs."
No need to "imagine"! Worse-that-2008 is coming and it has already begun. You are in the top of a high-rise with no floors. It's a long way down, and the cat will not bounce.
Orin, My home in Chicago is a block away from the grocery store, so I walk. In Germany, my home is 3 blocks away so I walk or bike. In fact, no American in my German city that I know has a car. Some are members of car sharing though. That was developed in the German city in which I live. Here all the Americans I know bike, walk and use public. A monthly Deutschland ticket makes this very affordable. Some German friends have electric cars. Apparently the Swedish-Chinese Polestar is popular. I have heard that the battery is so much better than that of a Tesla. My 91-year old German neighbor bikes to the store, and I see people of all ages biking past my window. My grandmother herself was still biking to the stores when she was 93, even though because of Macular Degeneration she could not see that well and I thought it was risky. I think she had an accident.
When picking a place to live in Chicago, because I am very aware of winter snow storms, I make sure that the grocery store is close enough to walk to in a blizzard. I do not care about being able to get to work, although I could walk to the school in which I taught in a blizzard, and did on more than one occasion. On snow days I still want to be able to get food. City living.
We do not have a car in Germany, and our Chicago car mostly sits in its parking space. In the US I chose to live in a walking neighborhood where we could walk to where we worked, lived, shopped, our child went to school until high school, went to the doctor, the dentist, and to entertainment and I know families there who are not American who do not have cars. In my German city public is super easy to use when the buses and trams are rerouted because of festivals and demonstrations. One can still get where one is going. You will also people older than 70 whizzing by on the bike paths with their bags or baskets attached to their bikes filled with purchases.
lucky you; I live in a mobile home community with no decent groceries nearby, I work all over Baltimore and tend to shop at a GOOD store within my commute. My car is old but paid for, because I spend more on organic food my health is decent (though age related medical costs are increasing), and I unfortunately don't have the opportunities or the choices available to those with higher incomes.
I keep hoping for more progressive politicians to take office so we can tax the fuck out of the rich like we did back in day when my father could buy a house and support a wife and two kids on just his income (and later my mom also did the same once she'd given that abusive jerk the boot).
You are lucky and quite presumptuous. I wish all Americans had these options, but the reality is that the vast majority of America is built car centric, even many metropolitan areas. I live in a Kansas City suburb, and we do not have adequate public transit. Believe you me, if we did, I would drop my car like a hot potato. Generalizing to the entire country, and definitely trying to compare us to Europe, is why people get upset and call others elite and out of touch. The simple facts are that many Americans face any number of hurdles to living as you do - proximity to services, availability and schedules of public transit, charging stations, and local laws regarding e-scooters/bikes to name a few. I would love to see true effort to change, at least in any medium plus sized city, but that takes immense lobbying and funding, another huge obstacle in American culture.
HC, I presume that people can make better choices on things that matter to them. So we are all prioritizing. I know the US is car centric and I know the decision making was done in the beginning of the last century. We have a car in the US. It is one car and it is a medium sized car, not a large one. If we would replace it, which we won't--it mostly sits--it would be with an electric one. I was looking at the Nissan Leaf because it was the least expensive that I could see.
In Norway about 95% new car sales are electric, and they have about 30% electric cars, compared to the wealthy US having 1.4%. Germany has even fewer. They have about 1.3%. Both are wealthy countries, and a lot of people clearly don't want to give up living in places where cars are necessary. About 18% of new cars sold in 2023 were electric in Germany and in the US. About 78% of households in Germany have cars, while 92% of US households have cars. Norway doesn't have a car industry to prop up so they are free to buy what they think is best. I hope we can move more in that direction. I am glad the bus stopping on our block is electric.
I am comparing the US to Europe because one of my reasons for retiring in Europe is that I want a lifestyle where I can be more carbon neutral more easily. Also, where it is just safer. I am also not supporting purchasing cheap gas. If gas were as expensive in the US as it is in Europe people would conserve it more. I know that for Americans it makes or breaks elections how much gas people can afford, but I think it is a shocking priority. I do not approve of the way that the US or Germany under Merz are prioritizing cars and roads over public transportation. We can locally be voting for it. I have signed up for a citizen initiative in transportation in my city here in Germany. I get regular bulletins from them on the initiatives and they survey us and then go lobby our city government on our behalf. It is not for cars, but for bicycle and public transportation to be accessible and well supported. Everyone should have such an organization in their municipality.
Consumption levels are structurally locked in to a great degree. While it's not impossible to live car-free in a car-centric community, in some places it's damn near it, and to expect individuals to swim against the tide when they are already struggling is a pretty big ask.
The solution is in better government policy and big changes to urban planning and building practices in the long term. (Corporations have done a good job of blaming individuals precisely for that reason: it distracts legislators from making people-friendly policy to the detriment of corporate profits.)
I solved the problem for myself by moving to a place that was built for people before cars even existed, but I recognize that's not a realistic option for everyone.
Coeur d'Alene Idaho! I ride the bus. I love riding the bus. I see my town. It's free. Of course, as is often the case out here, this public service is brought to us by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.
We have one car for two people. Both doctor and vet are 25 miles away, the hospital we prefer 70 miles. Rural living requires some driving. But I ride my bike for errands (or walk in winter), and even for most grocery shopping (store is 1/4 mile away). I come back from grocery shopping with a bag slung over my shoulder and another in one hand, while I steer with the other. Perfectly safe if you know what you're doing.
The U.S. has been a vehicle culture since the discovery of oil and the development of the automobile. Political spending by both industries has ensured that public transport is limited and confined within and not between very large cities. The suburbs and satellite developments have been built around single vehicle commuting with HOV lanes substituting for people movers. I don't see that changing any time soon.
This is something that we should be fighting. Fascism causes more climate problems, a good reason to get rid of Trump. The US is also one of the countries where the lifestyle of people is contributing to the death of people in the global south, who are drowning and starving to death due to the global warming that they did not cause, but countries like ours does.
Here is a discussion of a scientific study that makes this connection.
But that's Europe, and most of us in the US don't have access to local affordable corner markets, bike lanes or regular convenient public transit. City-dwellers perhaps do, but not my smallish one of just under 100K people.
There are urban planning decisions that have European cities making changes over the last 30 years. This is long term planning that gets killed in the US. A problem when politicians have 4 year terms that does not encourage long term plans because people want to see something immediately.
The middle is in my community but the industrial part not the residential. I live on the left side of the Weser. Bremen has lots of dedicated bike paths built into the sidewalks, but some go into the streets. People bring their bikes on the buses and trams, as well as wheel chairs and strollers. There are bike repair cafes, bike parking at the train station, and we are building 3 bridges over the river for bikes and pedestrians only. No matter the weather people ride all year around.
Most people in Germany have rain pants and good rain coats, and winter pants and coats. My daughter endured her classmates in the US not believing that her rain pants were not snow pants, and wondered about them because they did not know about biking to school, they were driven, and they did not know about lots of different outdoor clothing. Here in Bremen I see the children in snow suits, and rain outfits for the snowy or cold, or rainy weather.
I keep hearing testimonials from people in Germany or Benelux countries about how everyone should bike everywhere like they do. They don't live where it's hilly and the daytime temps are upwards of 30°C (or, here in Austin, 35°C for much of the year). Austin has been doing a good job of converting to protected bike lanes and adding pedestrian crosswalks on long roads, but they can't do anything about the hills or the housing crammed into steep creek valleys.
I've lived in climates ranging from inland Massachusetts to New Orleans, and I guarantee it's easier to protect yourself from the cold (though I take a vasodilator for Raynaud's) than from the heat.
I hear that there is a double whammy in Austin. In fact, I consider the climate unlivable, and the fact that water to Texas is disappearing and more and more people are moving there. The fights over water are going to get uglier and uglier. And Texas still has to share with Mexico based on water treaties, and there is going to be nothing left. The climate is one reason I could not live in Austin. A friend of mine who lived in Austin while her husband was working on his doctorate, spent her summers in Europe because they could not stand the heat. In fact, I chose northern Germany because I do not want to have the super hot summers, not even the kind of heat Chicago has which is more north than Texas. More people die in heat than in cold.
Bremen is hardly that warm in the summer, although it can get hot, the heat is drier than in Chicago where I live in the USA. Mostly the summers here are 65-85 degrees F. Right now it was 47 F high today, and 45 F most of the day. I do not vacation in southern Europe during the summer, although I have gone to Italy. Still, now I would go to Scandinavia or right in the northern part of Germany. The North Frisian or East Frisian Islands like Rügen and Sylt or Borkum are lovely.
Europeans who live in hilly areas still ride bikes. Freiburg is not flat. Here is a discussion of that, and the conclusion is that the biking infrastructure affects who bikes, not the hilliness. That is a reason to get a good biking infrastructure.
Most bike friendly European cities, clearly they have not visited my city which is much more bike friendly than Vienna, although Vienna is just a wonderful city.
However, most of the best European biking cities on this list, which is clearly not exhaustive, are flat, but Oslo is not flat. In fact Norway is not flat. Vienna is hilly as well. One of my daughter's best friends lives there so she goes there a lot, and I have a good friend from there and visit too.
One thing that makes a difference in Europe as well is that it has a viable Green party whereas the US does not. That changes the dynamics everywhere. When Trump is gotten rid of, and someone who is not a MAGA or Tech Bro type is in the presidency, we need to rethink a lot of things about our government to create a better environmental culture. It is not just about everyone having wind turbines or solar energy, or geothermal, but not producing such big vehicles and making sure people can afford electric vehicles including bikes, and really rethinking consumption.
Affordability is the name of the game but reducing consumption is part of that. Not because callous Trump says buy fewer dolls, but because teaching your children not to be excessive consumers is better for them now and in the long run. Teaching by modeling is best.
Actually gas is pretty cheap adjusted for inflation even at $3/gal. But as PK points out it has little to do with policy. And eggs are $1.50/doz at my Costco, again nothing to do with policy.
And it's always been pointed out that the economy sort of does it's own thing based on a lot of factors. Presidents get the blame and the credit, but have little influence. That is until Trump started his tariffs.
Gas is $4.50 to $5.50/gallon here. <$2.00 only if trump bribed a gas station to charge that maybe from 2:00 am to 2:05 am on a Sunday morning or their computer broke.
WHAT is wrong with the media? Why do they let Trump and his minions get away with out and out lies? Trump did not "appear" to fall asleep during his Cabinet meeting. He WAS asleep. He looked like a college student at an 8am class. Had Biden done this ONCE it would have been headlines for weeks. With Trump...it's just Trump being Trump. He has THE most unqualified Cabinet, ever.
The mainstream media have been like this for a very long time. GHW Bush lied repeatedly when he claimed he was “out of the loop” on the blatantly unconstitutional Iran Contra conspiracy. Then when his diary of all those meetings he claimed he hadn’t attended was about to be used as evidence in Caspar Weinberger’s trial, Bush pardoned all of his co-conspirators. The Iran Contra Independent Counsel accused Bush of “completing the coverup” but the media decided to just move on.
When Bush ran for president against Dukakis the media just let those facts slide and when he died I didn’t see any mention of his clear violation of our constitution and his oath to support and defend it. You can bet when Clinton dies Monica will be mentioned non stop.
Clearly our callow mainstream media thinks a president violating his marriage vows is far more serious than violating their oath of office.
Yes to everything you said. And there's a through line to the pandering to Republican politicians that extends to the present day. Shrub wasn't called out by the MSM on his lies in the run-up to the Iraq war - indeed, he was aided and abetted by the "liberal" NY Times who published Judith Mille's lies about WMD on their front page. They trashed Al Gore (gosh I hate Maureen Dowd), and even Obama ("Barry"). And don't get me started on all the "both-sidesing" that as gone on since Trump came down his elevator. Gross.
My Uncle, who was a transport pilot during WWII, and his fellow transport pilots, wouldn't vote for Bush because Bush did not follow the protocol of the pilot ensuring that everyone got out of a damaged plane before he parachuted out. When I saw the stunt parachuting when Bush was in his 80's, I wondered who did not get an opportunity to parachute out of Bush's plane in WWII. No mention in the press.
As I recall he pardoned the Iran Contra perpetrators on his way out of office. The Republicans have done this stuff for decades. The pardon power should be abolished or require 2/3 Congressional approval to make the party responsible electorally for it.
In his book “Firewall”, Iran Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh makes it clear those pardons kept the information in Bush’s diary from being used as evidence at Caspar Weinberger’s trial which would have also revealed Bush’s lies and could have put him at risk of prosecution too, out of office or not.
They are afraid of being sent to the back of the line, or being called "piggy" or very stupid. I wouldn't like that either but they get paid to ask probing questions or at least they used to...
I don't disagree. Will 1 journalists please step up? Wear it like a badge of honor. You only have to go to substack to see other journalists who have and are doing well.
The sane-washing is relentless. This goes from not calling out the blatant lies to paraphrasing incomprehensible incoherent ramblings. There's plenty of blame to go around for the enablers of the current fiasco. The senate is particularly guilty; but the mainstream press is close behind.
White House officials -- no matter which party they belong to -- utter nonsense on TV. And some Fed chairman have been notoriously political. The real issue with Hassett is his weak grasp of economics.
In addition Hassett as Fed Chair would implement his (and his boss') view of the Fed's Supervisory functions. That is he would de-emphasize and/or gut the Fed's bank supervisory and oversight functions of the Fed.
Sadly, we've seen this movie before. And it doesn't end well.
In 1994, the Clinton administration and the Congress passed the Home Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) which gave the Federal Reserve new supervisory powers to regulate non-bank financials that originated home mortgages.
Alan Greenspan, Fed Chair at the time and through 2005, decided that he would simply not enforce HOEPA. (Greenspan's excuse: he said he didn't want to give non-banks the imprimatur of the Fed.)
So from 1995 onward the Fed allowed the proliferation of predatory, unsafe, and unsound consumer mortgage practices by shadow, non-bank mortgage lenders. And those subprime originators began to flourish unchecked. By 2005 there were huge mortgage lenders like Countrywide and New Century dumping dodgy loans into dodgy securities.
This lack of supervision was a significant contributor to the subprime mortgage collapse and the subsequent 2008 Financial Crisis.
According to the FDIC, only about 25% of the Financial Crisis-related subprime home mortgages were generated inside the banking system.
75% of junk subprime loans were generated by the lenders the Fed decided it didn't want to regulate (e.g. Countrywide, New Century).
Hassett as Fed Chair would not only compromise our monetary policy but he would also set us up for another devastating banking and/or financial crisis.
Is regulatory discretion a power the Fed chair can wield or is it also subject to consensus? Regulatory activity DOES seem like a very important aspect of the importance of the Fed that is rarely mentioned. After all, the ONLY two things the current GOP really cares about are lowest-possible taxes and de-regulation.
SVB is a good recent example of what happens when Fed supervision breaks down even a little bit: after SVB's run in March 2023, Peter Thiel and others did a lot of jawboning and lobbying, and SVB was then named 'systemically important'; this meant that the FDIC had to pay ALL depositors big (e.g. Peter Thiel et. al.) and small for the full amount and above the FDIC insurance limits.
So the GOP's push to deregulate, that is to have less supervision, will certainly result in yet another crisis and by extension another corporate bail out.
Hi Sally. Cryptocurrency isn't regulated at all. A quick search for "crypto" on Dr. Krugman's home page found 10 posts on crypto. Its main use is for money laundering.
Starting at the top with the Fat Pedo Felon himself, there is not one competent person in the top tier/echelon of officials “governing” this country, currently. It’s all bluster, sycophancy & arrogance. Along with the pitiful servility of the GOP & Faux News the destruction is terrifying. We will be generations repairing the damage to our country & our democracy … if we can.
& in the meantime the Reactionary/Right Wing minority will still be caught in their fever dream & screaming about Socialists & “Woke” public policy.
Right now it appears to be the Billionaire Tech Bros & some old money Right Wing oligarchs. I’ve seen some comments that the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” allowed payoffs of over $10 Billion to various people, companies & investment groups. I’ve seen no proof, however…
I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of the committee just benched Hassett (his opinions at least) during his tenure. It’d be funny if he ended up just being a Trump-aligned guy with no actual input.
Unsurprising. My favorite economist, Paul Krugman, summed it up. This is a repost of his quote and my response. “Why are Trump and his allies undermining financial stability? There may be an element of free-market dogma. But as always with this administration, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of simple corruption.” Truer words were never spoken. I’m a disabled grandmother and clinical social worker who has engaged in more than 50 acts of disability-access microadvocacy (one issue and one organization at a time) across virtually all domains: Finance, Retail, Entertainment, Federal Government, State Government, Academia, Health Care, Nonprofit Safety Net, Media, Publishing, Insurance and Mainstream religion. In every case, the outcome was false hope, empty promises, and ignoring correspondence. The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing has been replaced with “movie set” morality that appears real but is an illusion. Every institution had formal policies in place that mandate truthfulness, transparency, and accountability but they were subverted by internal legal teams. There is only one conclusion: this country has sustained a total moral collapse. We must demand reform.
The phrase “ideological DEI hire” is EPIC!! I am stunned by how callow and callous Kevin Hassett is on TV?? I would think even Faux News hosts would be itching to slap that smirk off his face!!
The $2 gasoline myth is so weird. Its one of the few things where the price has to be clearly posted by law, and I think it has to be easily readable. So it would seem to be one of the dumber things to lie about, and yet Trump does it constantly, so his bootlickers fall in line. But Hassett could have lied about something else without the King noticing, so he is really sucking up bigly.
Glibness, shining teeth, and preposterous sycophancy are not what we want in a Fed president.
I like our Fed chiefs to look burdened by the weight of their responsibilities, have sparkling intellects and measure their own worthiness by their impact on society and history.
Their eyes should be glued to the well being of our children, not the number of likes on their latest Facebook post,
Trump hates everyone intelligent, principled or knowledgeable. They can make him feel small just by holding a poker face.
Trump, a self-proclaimed 'genius', is very suspicious of anyone with genuine intelligence. Sadly, that means at least 50% of the US population are too smart for their own good.
You are assuming that Trump is the midpoint of the range intelligence of the USA. I'd be willing to bet more of us are too smart for our own good.
I was trying to be kind 😇😊
Bob, I assume you are placing the Prez in the lower tier, inspite of his claims of "genius".
Apologies, it's not within my gift to "place" Trump, or anyone else, as 'intelligent'. However, his actions and words speak for themselves. For example:
“The 2020 election was stolen.”
“Thousands and thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated on 9/11.”
“COVID-19 will disappear… like a miracle.”
“99% of COVID cases are totally harmless.”
“We built the wall. We completed the wall.”
“We had the best economy in the history of the world.”
“I had the largest inauguration crowd in history.”
“Climate change is a hoax… invented by China.”
Are these the words of a rational, intelligent man of honour. Of a statesman, leader of the USA and the free world?
You forgot "I reduced the price by 500%" :D
🤣
Like you, I cannot assess Trump's intelligence.
I have seen enough questionable decisions and behavior to seriously wonder about his *true intelligence *. It certainly is nowhere near the level he claims.
Intelligence exposes him.
I know... that comment seems obvious.
But in a sense, that's the underlying reason some people dislike intelligence and intelligent people: Someone else's powers of perception shine a light on their corruption, ignorance, and/or stupidity. The last thing they want is to be seen.
... which is why Republicans can't have kids being educated. Children have the best bullshit detectors, so Republicans do their best to demolish that.
Legendary Carl Sagan suggested we all need a "Baloney Detection Kit" - it's as true today as it was in the 1990s ❤️
https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/
The problem with many of the 'intelligensia' is that they have a knack, consciously, or otherwise, of looking down on those they perceive to be less educated.
Why do so many poor, disenfranchised people believe the MAGA nonsense and vote against their own better interests? Because they believe it's preferable to being 'smart shamed' by those they see as self-entitled know-it-all's.
The right wing echo chamber knows how to appeal to the white working class and so they get them watching. And what the right wing echo chamber discovered is that you can’t just promote the “achievements” of the right wing because like with the Iraq War it can turn into a disaster. So the right wing echo chamber ends up focusing a lot of energy on vilifying Democrats making them unelectable in the eyes of their watchers. So a recent example is Republican voters aren’t aware that a Trump military operation killed a little American girl and 9 of her little friends…but they know all about the Obama drone strike that killed her brother and father.
Oh I ran into one of those on the Republican side day before yesterday. She looked down on me because she believed she had been more successful than I. This when she herself has to live in subsidized housing. What she didn't know when she said that people who were in terrible circumstances, were probably born to fail, showed no empathy at all for life difficulties. What she didn't know and I didn't tell her was I too had been once upper middle class and had attended one of the finest prep schools in the nation and had worked on numerous political campaigns, but blow after blow had landed me here too. I told her I had no time to discuss this train of thought that led to Nazi thinking, and walked away smiling. Her whole entitled attitude tone of voice told me she was hopeless until life taught her more.
Sounds like you've had a rough time Louise 😞
It's interesting how some people view success and failure as a moral choice. The "hard working" are successful, those that "fail" must be lazy. Life simply isn't like that! As the saying goes, "Man makes his plans, and the gods laugh".
Facts, as my daughter likes to say.
At this point, though, I'm only interested in looking up to our leaders for their integrity and intelligence. Right now I only see the pitch black of a moonless night.
The problem is partly the uneducated & ignorant feel left out by those who easily understand the issues.
They are prone to feel cheated and/or mislead, since they often don't have a clue. So they are open to bombastic (but ignorant) pied pipers like Trump.
The solution is quality education for everyone. which will take time.
As Mencken said, "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong".
Populist, on both the Left and Right, are masters at distilling issues into binary choices that the electorate can understand. For example, "tariffs bring back jobs" - without explaining the wider implications.
Few problems are simple. Solving the Russia/Ukraine conflict was never going to be "done in a day". Sadly, people want quick, easy solutions and vote for politicians that promise them that.
Hassett is a Bush Republican…so just know getting rid of Trump solves nothing with respect to the GOP.
The Bushes had a lot to do with the path we're on - they appointed 3 of the right-wing extremists on the SC.
And Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court because Bush ordered Senator Collins to confirm him after Trump was considering pulling his nomination. ACB is also a Bush Republican promoted by McGahn and Leo and McConnell.
Are you sure?
Yes, Bush called Colins personally and urged her to vote for Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh was Bush’s right hand man and supported torture and so it’s a travesty he’s on the Supreme Court.
Yes! At this point there is no person redeemable left in the Republican Party, which is why I vehemently tell people to vote a straight ticket Blue! Is everyone aware that the Young Republicans of New York State are getting ready to throw a gala soon for the leader of the new Nazi Party in Germany! Totally unredeemable Party as a whole, and the young ones are the worst of all!
Ding ding ding!! I would go further and tell people to vote straight Democrat and try not to read too much about politics because the GOP and unfortunately mainstream media will get you “lost in the weeds” and can only confuse people. So I canceled both my NYTimes and WaPo subscriptions even though they were very cheap. I might re-subscribe to NYTimes but I want WaPo to go out of business for stabbing Biden in the back. Trump is awful and the GOP must be defeated…I will vote for any Democrat from AOC to Shapiro.
Poker face like the generals and admirals and command NCOs at the Quantico lectures.
You would be poker-face too if you had to sit and listen to that charade! Major Hegseth (Who?) lecturing two, three and four star commanders boggles the mind. Is this the height of satire?
Well said EB.
And a big thank you to Dr Krugman and Dr Wells for their prolific and informative writing, their extensive expertise, and their dedication to this work. Thank you!
So Johnny Lee Hooker was Robin's choice....I remember sitting outside at a patio table of a sports bar one sunny day next to a homeless guy originally from UK, a retired hair stylist from a former upscale salon, where the incredibly talented owner ended up a street walker drug addict I had heard, & a younger Black guy dropped by and showed a clip on his cell phone of Johnny Lee Hooker stating that was his uncle. I swear, it is like Weimar Germany here to be surrounded by such down & out creatives...I looked up the person who claimed his uncle was JLH--which could be true. The supposed nephew had been in the pen & the pen website had a statement to such as not to discriminate against this person nor post derogatory pics of him, etc. What was the point of that moralizing when his pen pic was on the internet? Johnny Lee Hooker is top notch!
I think Hassett is going to be very short term. Mainly because he's not a good economist, and seems to be kind of dim (from what I've read here and elsewhere). The other FED governors and employees are going to run rings around him intellectually. The cats are not going to obey, and Hassett is going to look really, really bad. The broader business/finance community is going to be beating the drums of replacement.
Let's hope so, but if so, Trump will surely find someone equally as unqualified to fill the bill. I notice that all of Trump's worst appointments seem to have negative returns to scale. That is, the worse the performance and impact on our society (Scott Bessett is a shining example), the more influence they appear to have on Trump's decision making. There's just no way out.
Which makes us wonder if that’s not the purpose of them being appointed,
— to incapacitate or even destroy the agencies they’re appointed to.
We used to just consider them ‘foxes guarding hen-houses’.
That is because Trump is basically Anti-American and anti-people too. He doesn't just want vengeance and retribution on individuals, but on all of us for not loving him enough. What an embarrassment it was, to lose the election in 2020!
A total sociopath!
But in the meantime, you think Hassett is going to be able to resist Trump's demands and think independently, like Powell can? Forget it.
I guess from all those "holiday shoppers who don’t want to spend more," Hassett will be looking for eggs and gas under the tree this year. Happy holidays, Kev!
Oh what a visual image that invokes, fried eggs under a Christmas Tree up in flames! Wow!
I don't know how many demands Trump himself is really making these days. The opaque Truth Social posts aren't running the Federal Government these days, are they?
At this point I wonder how many of them (Hassett, Kennedy, Wright, Noem, etc.) are going to be intimidated by backroom boys running things behind a sleepy, demented Trump.
I can't wait to see him present any position that doesn't reflect trump's delusions
Look at little further out. We're not even a year into the disastrous second Trump term. He will continue to slowly capture the Fed Governors and Reserve Bank Presidents as well. Then there will be no guardrails.
They learned from the first Trump term that it's a mistake to appoint anyone with a conscience or a brain, as loyalty is now the most important (really only) trait. Everyone else is purged.
The threshold for appointment to critical public office needs to be higher than the Brittany Spears threshold, "has been found competent by the court to manage her own affairs."
Jonathan Last's Triad today imagined what would happen with Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury and Hassett was Fed Chair? He started by pointing out that people were laughing at Bessent's idiotic answers at the Dealbook shindig with Andew Ross Sorkin. And then he says:
"When the global financial system melted down in 2008, Henry Paulson was SecTreas. When the crisis first appeared, in March 2008, Paulson had to arrange a debt guarantee in order to prevent Bear Stearns from failing; then he was able to arrange a sale of Bear to JPMorgan Chase. This calmed the markets enough to buy time until the next domino collapsed with the Lehman Brothers default in September.
Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke did not manage the crisis perfectly. But they weren’t hacks. They were respected professionals and when they spoke, the markets, the banks, the public, and the various players in global economy didn’t assume—just as a matter of course—that they were lying hacks playing to an audience of one. Nobody laughed at them.
And because they commanded respect they were able to prevent the cascade from being even worse.
I ask this seriously: Imagine what would happen if, next year, we had a 2008-style crisis and Bessent and Hassett were sitting in those chairs."
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/what-if-its-already-too-late-maga-institutions-leadership-bessent (If you can afford a Bulwark subscription, I recommend it! If you can't afford it, I believe you can request one from Jonathan, although I am not sure how to go about doing that.)
No need to "imagine"! Worse-that-2008 is coming and it has already begun. You are in the top of a high-rise with no floors. It's a long way down, and the cat will not bounce.
Kobeissi Letter:
Recent Layoff Announcements:
1. US Govt: 307,000 employees
2. UPS: 48,000 employees
3. Amazon: Up to 30,000 employees
4. Intel: 24,000 employees
5. Nestle: 16,000 employees
6. Verizon: 15,000 employees
7. Accenture: 11,000 employees
8. Ford: 11,000 employees
9. Novo Nordisk: 9,000 employees
10. Microsoft: 7,000 employees
11. PwC: 5,600 employees
12. Salesforce: 4,000 employees
13. IBM: 2,700 employees
14. American Airlines: 2,700 employees
15. Paramount: 2,000 employees
16. Target: 1,800 employees
17. General Motors: 1,500 employees
18. Applied Materials: 1,444 employees
19. Kroger: 1,000 employees
20. Meta: 600 employees
Preach!
Advice to holiday shoppers - eat lots of eggs ...
And fill your gas tank.
Especially if you live in OZ and pay $1.99 a gallon!
Drive electric instead, or use public or bikes or walk.
Oh yeah? Try doing grocery shopping with your bike.
Orin, My home in Chicago is a block away from the grocery store, so I walk. In Germany, my home is 3 blocks away so I walk or bike. In fact, no American in my German city that I know has a car. Some are members of car sharing though. That was developed in the German city in which I live. Here all the Americans I know bike, walk and use public. A monthly Deutschland ticket makes this very affordable. Some German friends have electric cars. Apparently the Swedish-Chinese Polestar is popular. I have heard that the battery is so much better than that of a Tesla. My 91-year old German neighbor bikes to the store, and I see people of all ages biking past my window. My grandmother herself was still biking to the stores when she was 93, even though because of Macular Degeneration she could not see that well and I thought it was risky. I think she had an accident.
When picking a place to live in Chicago, because I am very aware of winter snow storms, I make sure that the grocery store is close enough to walk to in a blizzard. I do not care about being able to get to work, although I could walk to the school in which I taught in a blizzard, and did on more than one occasion. On snow days I still want to be able to get food. City living.
We do not have a car in Germany, and our Chicago car mostly sits in its parking space. In the US I chose to live in a walking neighborhood where we could walk to where we worked, lived, shopped, our child went to school until high school, went to the doctor, the dentist, and to entertainment and I know families there who are not American who do not have cars. In my German city public is super easy to use when the buses and trams are rerouted because of festivals and demonstrations. One can still get where one is going. You will also people older than 70 whizzing by on the bike paths with their bags or baskets attached to their bikes filled with purchases.
lucky you; I live in a mobile home community with no decent groceries nearby, I work all over Baltimore and tend to shop at a GOOD store within my commute. My car is old but paid for, because I spend more on organic food my health is decent (though age related medical costs are increasing), and I unfortunately don't have the opportunities or the choices available to those with higher incomes.
I keep hoping for more progressive politicians to take office so we can tax the fuck out of the rich like we did back in day when my father could buy a house and support a wife and two kids on just his income (and later my mom also did the same once she'd given that abusive jerk the boot).
You are lucky and quite presumptuous. I wish all Americans had these options, but the reality is that the vast majority of America is built car centric, even many metropolitan areas. I live in a Kansas City suburb, and we do not have adequate public transit. Believe you me, if we did, I would drop my car like a hot potato. Generalizing to the entire country, and definitely trying to compare us to Europe, is why people get upset and call others elite and out of touch. The simple facts are that many Americans face any number of hurdles to living as you do - proximity to services, availability and schedules of public transit, charging stations, and local laws regarding e-scooters/bikes to name a few. I would love to see true effort to change, at least in any medium plus sized city, but that takes immense lobbying and funding, another huge obstacle in American culture.
HC, I presume that people can make better choices on things that matter to them. So we are all prioritizing. I know the US is car centric and I know the decision making was done in the beginning of the last century. We have a car in the US. It is one car and it is a medium sized car, not a large one. If we would replace it, which we won't--it mostly sits--it would be with an electric one. I was looking at the Nissan Leaf because it was the least expensive that I could see.
In Norway about 95% new car sales are electric, and they have about 30% electric cars, compared to the wealthy US having 1.4%. Germany has even fewer. They have about 1.3%. Both are wealthy countries, and a lot of people clearly don't want to give up living in places where cars are necessary. About 18% of new cars sold in 2023 were electric in Germany and in the US. About 78% of households in Germany have cars, while 92% of US households have cars. Norway doesn't have a car industry to prop up so they are free to buy what they think is best. I hope we can move more in that direction. I am glad the bus stopping on our block is electric.
I am comparing the US to Europe because one of my reasons for retiring in Europe is that I want a lifestyle where I can be more carbon neutral more easily. Also, where it is just safer. I am also not supporting purchasing cheap gas. If gas were as expensive in the US as it is in Europe people would conserve it more. I know that for Americans it makes or breaks elections how much gas people can afford, but I think it is a shocking priority. I do not approve of the way that the US or Germany under Merz are prioritizing cars and roads over public transportation. We can locally be voting for it. I have signed up for a citizen initiative in transportation in my city here in Germany. I get regular bulletins from them on the initiatives and they survey us and then go lobby our city government on our behalf. It is not for cars, but for bicycle and public transportation to be accessible and well supported. Everyone should have such an organization in their municipality.
Consumption levels are structurally locked in to a great degree. While it's not impossible to live car-free in a car-centric community, in some places it's damn near it, and to expect individuals to swim against the tide when they are already struggling is a pretty big ask.
The solution is in better government policy and big changes to urban planning and building practices in the long term. (Corporations have done a good job of blaming individuals precisely for that reason: it distracts legislators from making people-friendly policy to the detriment of corporate profits.)
I solved the problem for myself by moving to a place that was built for people before cars even existed, but I recognize that's not a realistic option for everyone.
Coeur d'Alene Idaho! I ride the bus. I love riding the bus. I see my town. It's free. Of course, as is often the case out here, this public service is brought to us by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe.
We have one car for two people. Both doctor and vet are 25 miles away, the hospital we prefer 70 miles. Rural living requires some driving. But I ride my bike for errands (or walk in winter), and even for most grocery shopping (store is 1/4 mile away). I come back from grocery shopping with a bag slung over my shoulder and another in one hand, while I steer with the other. Perfectly safe if you know what you're doing.
The U.S. has been a vehicle culture since the discovery of oil and the development of the automobile. Political spending by both industries has ensured that public transport is limited and confined within and not between very large cities. The suburbs and satellite developments have been built around single vehicle commuting with HOV lanes substituting for people movers. I don't see that changing any time soon.
This is something that we should be fighting. Fascism causes more climate problems, a good reason to get rid of Trump. The US is also one of the countries where the lifestyle of people is contributing to the death of people in the global south, who are drowning and starving to death due to the global warming that they did not cause, but countries like ours does.
Here is a discussion of a scientific study that makes this connection.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/07/two-thirds-of-global-heating-caused-by-richest-study-suggests
But that's Europe, and most of us in the US don't have access to local affordable corner markets, bike lanes or regular convenient public transit. City-dwellers perhaps do, but not my smallish one of just under 100K people.
Here is someone in Oslo talking about their planning to accommodate Bikes more and cars less. https://youtu.be/mgiQIutYUGM?si=kCDWddQLxDgtPiTQ
There are urban planning decisions that have European cities making changes over the last 30 years. This is long term planning that gets killed in the US. A problem when politicians have 4 year terms that does not encourage long term plans because people want to see something immediately.
Here is a video on bike friendly city planning.
https://youtu.be/RJGIhu02ATg?si=eFCnZ-MGoMBeYFOk
Here is how Utrecht, Netherlands planned for biking. So cool.
https://youtu.be/Boi0XEm9-4E?si=MN55LKa4g82MnI-3
While Freiburg and Münster are considered two best biking cities in Germany, my city Bremen is considered the best one in the north.
Freiburg
https://youtu.be/6Vil5KC7Bl0?si=bODSuggTxoDTCAFO
Münster where you will hardly see any cars
https://youtu.be/EsjU48wbM0g?si=YAYPWrQKUDYTsk2O
Bremen
https://youtu.be/zYMIK4AAwHo?si=P5fMXQ57Xf9d1Xq1
The middle is in my community but the industrial part not the residential. I live on the left side of the Weser. Bremen has lots of dedicated bike paths built into the sidewalks, but some go into the streets. People bring their bikes on the buses and trams, as well as wheel chairs and strollers. There are bike repair cafes, bike parking at the train station, and we are building 3 bridges over the river for bikes and pedestrians only. No matter the weather people ride all year around.
Most people in Germany have rain pants and good rain coats, and winter pants and coats. My daughter endured her classmates in the US not believing that her rain pants were not snow pants, and wondered about them because they did not know about biking to school, they were driven, and they did not know about lots of different outdoor clothing. Here in Bremen I see the children in snow suits, and rain outfits for the snowy or cold, or rainy weather.
I keep hearing testimonials from people in Germany or Benelux countries about how everyone should bike everywhere like they do. They don't live where it's hilly and the daytime temps are upwards of 30°C (or, here in Austin, 35°C for much of the year). Austin has been doing a good job of converting to protected bike lanes and adding pedestrian crosswalks on long roads, but they can't do anything about the hills or the housing crammed into steep creek valleys.
I've lived in climates ranging from inland Massachusetts to New Orleans, and I guarantee it's easier to protect yourself from the cold (though I take a vasodilator for Raynaud's) than from the heat.
I hear that there is a double whammy in Austin. In fact, I consider the climate unlivable, and the fact that water to Texas is disappearing and more and more people are moving there. The fights over water are going to get uglier and uglier. And Texas still has to share with Mexico based on water treaties, and there is going to be nothing left. The climate is one reason I could not live in Austin. A friend of mine who lived in Austin while her husband was working on his doctorate, spent her summers in Europe because they could not stand the heat. In fact, I chose northern Germany because I do not want to have the super hot summers, not even the kind of heat Chicago has which is more north than Texas. More people die in heat than in cold.
Bremen is hardly that warm in the summer, although it can get hot, the heat is drier than in Chicago where I live in the USA. Mostly the summers here are 65-85 degrees F. Right now it was 47 F high today, and 45 F most of the day. I do not vacation in southern Europe during the summer, although I have gone to Italy. Still, now I would go to Scandinavia or right in the northern part of Germany. The North Frisian or East Frisian Islands like Rügen and Sylt or Borkum are lovely.
Europeans who live in hilly areas still ride bikes. Freiburg is not flat. Here is a discussion of that, and the conclusion is that the biking infrastructure affects who bikes, not the hilliness. That is a reason to get a good biking infrastructure.
https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2009/10/effect-of-hills-on-cycling.html
Still, here the discussion is of innovations that make biking in hilly places easier.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/300613871/got-hills-no-problem-these-cities-with-inclines-have-embraced-bikes
Most bike friendly European cities, clearly they have not visited my city which is much more bike friendly than Vienna, although Vienna is just a wonderful city.
https://en.radreisen.at/magazine-bike-friendly-cities
However, most of the best European biking cities on this list, which is clearly not exhaustive, are flat, but Oslo is not flat. In fact Norway is not flat. Vienna is hilly as well. One of my daughter's best friends lives there so she goes there a lot, and I have a good friend from there and visit too.
One thing that makes a difference in Europe as well is that it has a viable Green party whereas the US does not. That changes the dynamics everywhere. When Trump is gotten rid of, and someone who is not a MAGA or Tech Bro type is in the presidency, we need to rethink a lot of things about our government to create a better environmental culture. It is not just about everyone having wind turbines or solar energy, or geothermal, but not producing such big vehicles and making sure people can afford electric vehicles including bikes, and really rethinking consumption.
Affordability is the name of the game but reducing consumption is part of that. Not because callous Trump says buy fewer dolls, but because teaching your children not to be excessive consumers is better for them now and in the long run. Teaching by modeling is best.
Perfectly possible for a single person. I did so in my early twenties. Saddle bags and bungee cords.
That's good advice for cities and communities with good public transit.
It isn't practical for area where public transit isn't available; it may also be impractical for people with health or mobility issues.
Ride sharing might work for some.
How about this for city planning. Utrecht planned their cities around bike culture.
https://youtu.be/Boi0XEm9-4E?si=MN55LKa4g82MnI-3
Yep. ☝️My $0.14/kWh is 80% cheaper than my $4.99/gal delivering basically the same range.
Actually gas is pretty cheap adjusted for inflation even at $3/gal. But as PK points out it has little to do with policy. And eggs are $1.50/doz at my Costco, again nothing to do with policy.
And it's always been pointed out that the economy sort of does it's own thing based on a lot of factors. Presidents get the blame and the credit, but have little influence. That is until Trump started his tariffs.
with eggs
…with a generous sprinkling of gasoline on top. Yummy!
How about give the gift of Euros before the dollar tanks even more.
Let then eat eggs! And $2 gasoline ...
Santa Claus becomes the Easter Bunny.
You mean suck eggs.
Hard boiled eggs in the stocking! Kids love them.
I like the chocolate ones with the cream in the center.
I always gift people eggs under the tree! People are so thrilled when they crack and the smell drifts out of the wrapping! /s
They also make great stocking stuffers.
Gas is $4.50 to $5.50/gallon here. <$2.00 only if trump bribed a gas station to charge that maybe from 2:00 am to 2:05 am on a Sunday morning or their computer broke.
New Jersey here - The last time I passed the Costco, they were charging $2.79/gallon. That was, however, about a month ago.
Let them eat gasoline, says Trump
Right? Or maybe you can gift your loved ones some deeply discounted gasoline. That’s a great gift idea.
WHAT is wrong with the media? Why do they let Trump and his minions get away with out and out lies? Trump did not "appear" to fall asleep during his Cabinet meeting. He WAS asleep. He looked like a college student at an 8am class. Had Biden done this ONCE it would have been headlines for weeks. With Trump...it's just Trump being Trump. He has THE most unqualified Cabinet, ever.
The mainstream media have been like this for a very long time. GHW Bush lied repeatedly when he claimed he was “out of the loop” on the blatantly unconstitutional Iran Contra conspiracy. Then when his diary of all those meetings he claimed he hadn’t attended was about to be used as evidence in Caspar Weinberger’s trial, Bush pardoned all of his co-conspirators. The Iran Contra Independent Counsel accused Bush of “completing the coverup” but the media decided to just move on.
When Bush ran for president against Dukakis the media just let those facts slide and when he died I didn’t see any mention of his clear violation of our constitution and his oath to support and defend it. You can bet when Clinton dies Monica will be mentioned non stop.
Clearly our callow mainstream media thinks a president violating his marriage vows is far more serious than violating their oath of office.
Yes to everything you said. And there's a through line to the pandering to Republican politicians that extends to the present day. Shrub wasn't called out by the MSM on his lies in the run-up to the Iraq war - indeed, he was aided and abetted by the "liberal" NY Times who published Judith Mille's lies about WMD on their front page. They trashed Al Gore (gosh I hate Maureen Dowd), and even Obama ("Barry"). And don't get me started on all the "both-sidesing" that as gone on since Trump came down his elevator. Gross.
My Uncle, who was a transport pilot during WWII, and his fellow transport pilots, wouldn't vote for Bush because Bush did not follow the protocol of the pilot ensuring that everyone got out of a damaged plane before he parachuted out. When I saw the stunt parachuting when Bush was in his 80's, I wondered who did not get an opportunity to parachute out of Bush's plane in WWII. No mention in the press.
As I recall he pardoned the Iran Contra perpetrators on his way out of office. The Republicans have done this stuff for decades. The pardon power should be abolished or require 2/3 Congressional approval to make the party responsible electorally for it.
And/or make them invalid in the waning days of a presidency.
In his book “Firewall”, Iran Contra Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh makes it clear those pardons kept the information in Bush’s diary from being used as evidence at Caspar Weinberger’s trial which would have also revealed Bush’s lies and could have put him at risk of prosecution too, out of office or not.
Another reason to end the pardon power. Even "normie" presidents abuse it.
They are afraid of being sent to the back of the line, or being called "piggy" or very stupid. I wouldn't like that either but they get paid to ask probing questions or at least they used to...
I don't disagree. Will 1 journalists please step up? Wear it like a badge of honor. You only have to go to substack to see other journalists who have and are doing well.
No corporate journalist will be allowed. This is the new media. Independent journalists.
The sane-washing is relentless. This goes from not calling out the blatant lies to paraphrasing incomprehensible incoherent ramblings. There's plenty of blame to go around for the enablers of the current fiasco. The senate is particularly guilty; but the mainstream press is close behind.
He blathers on like Professor Irwin Korey and they try their hardest to make it sound like Shakespeare.
Our media was corrupted by capitalism. Plain and simple.
Good phrase: "Ideological DEI hire."
White House officials -- no matter which party they belong to -- utter nonsense on TV. And some Fed chairman have been notoriously political. The real issue with Hassett is his weak grasp of economics.
Duplicity, Egomania, Ignorance
Don, Eric, Ivanka: The Original DEI Hires...
https://makeameme.org/meme/original-dei-hires
Hassett is the Cheshire Cat of economic advisors. That fake painful smile never leaves his face.
He’s the textbook definition of a stuffed shirt. He’s probably the same clueless guy that told Trump gas was less than $2.
And thank you Dr Krugman. You were on line earlier than usual today.
Alternative video to replace the missing link -
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_heFIAa3hA0
“Most everyone is mad here.” We are all Alice. Thanks for the link. (I think) 💭
In addition Hassett as Fed Chair would implement his (and his boss') view of the Fed's Supervisory functions. That is he would de-emphasize and/or gut the Fed's bank supervisory and oversight functions of the Fed.
Sadly, we've seen this movie before. And it doesn't end well.
In 1994, the Clinton administration and the Congress passed the Home Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) which gave the Federal Reserve new supervisory powers to regulate non-bank financials that originated home mortgages.
Alan Greenspan, Fed Chair at the time and through 2005, decided that he would simply not enforce HOEPA. (Greenspan's excuse: he said he didn't want to give non-banks the imprimatur of the Fed.)
So from 1995 onward the Fed allowed the proliferation of predatory, unsafe, and unsound consumer mortgage practices by shadow, non-bank mortgage lenders. And those subprime originators began to flourish unchecked. By 2005 there were huge mortgage lenders like Countrywide and New Century dumping dodgy loans into dodgy securities.
This lack of supervision was a significant contributor to the subprime mortgage collapse and the subsequent 2008 Financial Crisis.
According to the FDIC, only about 25% of the Financial Crisis-related subprime home mortgages were generated inside the banking system.
75% of junk subprime loans were generated by the lenders the Fed decided it didn't want to regulate (e.g. Countrywide, New Century).
Hassett as Fed Chair would not only compromise our monetary policy but he would also set us up for another devastating banking and/or financial crisis.
Is regulatory discretion a power the Fed chair can wield or is it also subject to consensus? Regulatory activity DOES seem like a very important aspect of the importance of the Fed that is rarely mentioned. After all, the ONLY two things the current GOP really cares about are lowest-possible taxes and de-regulation.
The Fed Chair has a significant amount of 'moral suasion' over Supervision.
(I use the term 'moral' suasion very expansively because I doubt Kevin Hassett has any morality at all.)
But you are correct: bank supervision is difficult even with reasonable Federal Reserve management; for example, read the Fed's Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) mea culpa: (https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/svb-review-20230428.pdf)
SVB is a good recent example of what happens when Fed supervision breaks down even a little bit: after SVB's run in March 2023, Peter Thiel and others did a lot of jawboning and lobbying, and SVB was then named 'systemically important'; this meant that the FDIC had to pay ALL depositors big (e.g. Peter Thiel et. al.) and small for the full amount and above the FDIC insurance limits.
So the GOP's push to deregulate, that is to have less supervision, will certainly result in yet another crisis and by extension another corporate bail out.
Thank you, informative! Question for anyone, how does cryptocurrency get regulated and does the fed have any power to give up to the crypto crowd?
Hi Sally. Cryptocurrency isn't regulated at all. A quick search for "crypto" on Dr. Krugman's home page found 10 posts on crypto. Its main use is for money laundering.
Starting at the top with the Fat Pedo Felon himself, there is not one competent person in the top tier/echelon of officials “governing” this country, currently. It’s all bluster, sycophancy & arrogance. Along with the pitiful servility of the GOP & Faux News the destruction is terrifying. We will be generations repairing the damage to our country & our democracy … if we can.
& in the meantime the Reactionary/Right Wing minority will still be caught in their fever dream & screaming about Socialists & “Woke” public policy.
I hope, at some point, the curtain is pulled back and we see who is really running our country!
Right now it appears to be the Billionaire Tech Bros & some old money Right Wing oligarchs. I’ve seen some comments that the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” allowed payoffs of over $10 Billion to various people, companies & investment groups. I’ve seen no proof, however…
& then he falls asleep
Coda unavailable in US due to copyright.
Try here: https://youtu.be/NCWSSTQb3qw
Thanks!
Thank you!
Unavailable in Canada too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ15Nq1XjRA
Sounds like the perfect guy to work for a president who lowered prescription drug prices by 1,500%
Lol.
Agreed 😂😂😂!
I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of the committee just benched Hassett (his opinions at least) during his tenure. It’d be funny if he ended up just being a Trump-aligned guy with no actual input.
🙏🏻
Stagflation is coming to the USA - and its going to be very, very nasty.
Hasset appears totally unqualified to manage it.
The consequences of Trump's incompetence are unavoidable.
Expect the worst.
Unsurprising. My favorite economist, Paul Krugman, summed it up. This is a repost of his quote and my response. “Why are Trump and his allies undermining financial stability? There may be an element of free-market dogma. But as always with this administration, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of simple corruption.” Truer words were never spoken. I’m a disabled grandmother and clinical social worker who has engaged in more than 50 acts of disability-access microadvocacy (one issue and one organization at a time) across virtually all domains: Finance, Retail, Entertainment, Federal Government, State Government, Academia, Health Care, Nonprofit Safety Net, Media, Publishing, Insurance and Mainstream religion. In every case, the outcome was false hope, empty promises, and ignoring correspondence. The implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing has been replaced with “movie set” morality that appears real but is an illusion. Every institution had formal policies in place that mandate truthfulness, transparency, and accountability but they were subverted by internal legal teams. There is only one conclusion: this country has sustained a total moral collapse. We must demand reform.
The phrase “ideological DEI hire” is EPIC!! I am stunned by how callow and callous Kevin Hassett is on TV?? I would think even Faux News hosts would be itching to slap that smirk off his face!!
I got my wife a box full of gasoline and eggs for Christmas. I can’t wait to see her excitement.
I hope your wife doesn’t own a gun😎
Are you kidding? The price of lead is way too high. Half the material for guns are imported. Maybe she’ll find a way to weaponize eggs
lol
The veritable face of a Yes Man.
Repulsive.
Very punchable.
Word of the Week: Backpfeifengesicht
GermanyinUSA
https://germanyinusa.com › 2019/02/22 › word-of-the-w...
Feb 22, 2019 — The word Backpfeifengesicht therefore means something along the lines of “a face that's begging to be slapped” – or punched. Or hurt.
Has he been using Joker products?
Just like all of Trump’s picks.
The $2 gasoline myth is so weird. Its one of the few things where the price has to be clearly posted by law, and I think it has to be easily readable. So it would seem to be one of the dumber things to lie about, and yet Trump does it constantly, so his bootlickers fall in line. But Hassett could have lied about something else without the King noticing, so he is really sucking up bigly.