A Problem of Reading Comprehension: Was the Feds Rate Cut Political?

Jeff Stein of the Washington Post reported that Trump advisor Steven Moore called the move to reduce the prime rate by .5 points “political.”

“jaw-dropping. There's no reason they couldn't do 25 now and 25 right after the election. Why not wait till then?”

Inexplicably, Moore dropped his jaw and then with his next words undercut himself all by himself. Imagine taking a reading comprehension test. What is Moore’s main idea? a) Jerome Powell is untrustworthy, b) decisions about the prime rate ought not be political, c) the Fed leader ought to take politics into consideration when deciding on the prime rate, d) Stephen Moore is untrustworthy. More goes on—

"I'm not saying [the] reduction isn't justified—it may well be and they have more data than I do. But i just think, 'why now?’”

Wait. He has no factual anchor in reality for his charge of essentially disingenuous action by the Fed leadership. But he “just thinks” why now? I thought Moore was trained as an economist. Don’t they work with hard data? Do they “just think?”

Isn’t Moore really saying that the recent rate cut is NOT political? Doesn’t he insinuate bad behavior on the part of the Fed because there was no consideration of the election? Isn’t he saying the Fed SHOULD have been political to help Trump bolster his argument even if it hurt the economy? Does he understand the concept of logical contradiction?

Here is Moore’s reasoning. The Fed should not have cut the rate by .5 of a point before the election. It should have split the .5 in two and wait until after the election for half the cut. He is complaining that the rate cut was made without political machinations.

It’s rather refreshing to see economic leadership that is tuned to the economy and not to the election. Moore’s twisted logic in service of Trump makes clear that we can’t trust the GOP to lead the country if we want a stable economy.

Moore would want to use Jerome Powell as Trump used Michael Cohen to support his election.

Steven Moore is among the primary authors of Project 2025. He used to speak on CNN making the same kind of nonsense he makes here.

It’s worth thinking about what Trump would do to the economy if he could. Every voter who works for a living also planning to vote for Trump might give it a think.

Moore could become the next head of the Fed, willing to factor in political winds regardless of economic facts.