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Posted: 15 Mar 2017 11:18 AM PDT
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate for the second time in three months and signaled that any further hikes this year will be gradual. The move Wednesday reflects a consistently solid U.S. economy and will likely mean higher rates on some consumer and business loans. The Fed’s key short-term rate is rising by a quarter-point to a still-low range of 0.75 percent to 1 percent. The central bank said in a statement that a strengthening job market and rising prices had moved it closer to its targets for employment and inflation. The message the Fed is sending is that nearly eight years after the Great Recession ended, the economy no longer needs the support of ultra-low borrowing rates and is healthy enough to withstand steadily tighter credit. Investors had seemed unfazed in recent weeks by the possibility that the Fed will raise rates several times in the coming months. Instead, Wall Street has been sustaining a stock market rally that began with President Donald Trump’s election in November, buoyed by the prospect that tax cuts, an easing of regulations and higher spending for infrastructure will accelerate growth. A robust February jobs report — 235,000 added jobs, solid pay gains and a dip in the unemployment rate to 4.7 percent — added to the perception that the economy appears fundamentally strong. That the Fed is no longer unsettling investors with the signal of a forthcoming rate increase marks quite a change from the anxiety that prevailed after 2008, when the central bank cut its key rate to a record low and kept it there for seven years. During those years, any slight shift in sentiment about when the Fed might begin raising rates — a step that would lead eventually to higher loan rates for consumers and businesses — was enough to move global markets. In 2013, then-Chairman Ben Bernanke sent markets into a panic merely by mentioning that the Fed was contemplating slowing the pace of its bond purchases, which it was using then to keep long-term borrowing rates low. But now, the economy is widely considered sturdy enough to handle modestly higher loan rates. Inflation, which had stayed undesirably low for years, is edging near the 2 percent annual rate that the Fed views as optimal. And while the broadest gauge of the economy’s health — the gross domestic product — remains well below levels associated with a healthy economy, many analysts say they’re optimistic that Trump’s proposed tax cuts, infrastructure spending increases and deregulation may accelerate growth. Those proposals have lifted the confidence of business executives and offset concerns that investors might otherwise have had about the effects of Fed rate increases. Yet for the same reason, some caution that if Trump’s program fails to survive Congress intact, concerns will arise that the president’s plans won’t deliver much economic punch. Investors may start to fret about how steadily higher Fed rates will raise the cost of borrowing and slow spending by consumers and businesses. The Fed typically raises rates to prevent an economy from overheating and inflation from rising too high. But throughout the Fed’s history, its efforts to control inflation have sometimes gone too far — slowing borrowing and spending so much as to trigger a recession. Already, the current expansion, which officially began in 2009, is the third-longest in the post-World War II period. The Fed’s benchmark rate, after modest increases in December 2015 and December 2016 and again on Wednesday, is still quite low by historical standards. But if the Fed ends up raising rates three or four times this year and follows up with three additional hikes in 2018, its benchmark rate would be left at a level that might start to dampen economic activity. |
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates for Second Time in 3 Months - TIME Business
President Trump Is Going to Challenge Fuel Efficiency Standards Shaped by Obama - Associated Press
Posted: 15 Mar 2017 06:29 AM PDT
(WASHINGTON) — Moving forcefully against Obama-era environmental rules, President Donald Trump is set to announce in Michigan plans to re-examine federal requirements that regulate the fuel efficiency of new cars and trucks.
Trump is expected to reveal his plans during an appearance Wednesday at the American Center for Mobility in Detroit where he’ll challenge the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) emissions targets that were a centerpiece of former President Barack Obama’s strategy to combat global warming. The rollback underscores the Trump administration’s rejection of mainstream climate science in an effort to boost economic growth.
The Detroit center was used to produce B-24 bombers during World War II and is now in the process of being converted into an automotive testing and product development center. While visiting there the president is expected to meet with auto executives and workers and discuss “how his plans for rolling back federal red tape will lead to more American jobs and higher wages, specifically in the automobile sector,” Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters.
The EPA under Obama’s stewardship had promulgated a rule for cars and trucks requiring a fleet-wide average of 54.5 mpg by 2025.
The president will travel later Wednesday to Nashville, Tennessee, where he’ll lay a wreath at President Andrew Jackson’s tomb to mark what would have been Jackson’s 250th birthday, before holding a campaign-style rally in the city.
But the most significant move of the day will likely be the president’s announcement on the CAFE emissions targets. The move will have no immediate effect. But it is expected to set the stage for weaker fuel efficiency standards as well as drawn-out legal battles with environmental groups and states like California that have adopted their own tough tailpipe standards for drivers.
The president will target the Obama administration’s January decision to end a review process before he left office.
Back in 2012, the Obama set fuel-economy regulations for model years 2017-2025. The administration agreed to complete a midterm evaluation in 2018. But seven days before Obama left office, the EPA decided to keep the stringent requirements it had set in place for model years 2022 to 2025. The industry balked at the decision, insisting it was rushed through to beat the change in administrations.
Trump will announce that he’s putting that midterm review back on track, so that officials can spend another year studying the issue before setting new standards in 2018.
While the administration has not said explicitly it wants to weaken the standards, a senior White House official said the Obama-era EPA had ignored reams of data cited by the automotive industry. The official spoke on condition of anonymity at a White House briefing in order to outline the action, despite the president’s criticism of the use of un-named sources.
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents a dozen major car manufacturers including General Motors, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota, last month urged EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt to relax the standards, saying they will drive up car costs, price customers out of the market and depress the industry. Obama’s EPA had argued the costs to consumers were mitigated by gas savings and that the rules would decrease greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
Trump campaigned on eliminating “job killing” regulations, and the administration is expected to take additional steps in the coming days to roll back environmental regulations.
Environmentalists expect Trump to ease the gas mileage requirements, which translate to a fleet-wide average of 36 mpg in real-world driving by 2025. “This change makes no sense. Mileage standards save consumers money at the gas pump, make Americans less dependent on oil, reduce carbon pollution and advance innovation,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Once in Nashville, Trump will be given a private tour of Jackson’s home, according to Howard Kittell, the President and CEO of the Hermitage mansion. He’ll also lay a wreath at Jackson’s tomb in honor of the seventh president’s birthday and deliver remarks.
Jackson has enjoyed something of a resurgence thanks to Trump. During the campaign, some of Trump’s aides took to comparing him to the former president — a fellow populist outsider who took on a member of the Washington establishment and ran a campaign railing against corrupt elites.
Trump mused during his first days in Washington that “there hasn’t been anything like this since Andrew Jackson” and hung a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office after moving in.
Historians had been souring on the slave-owning president whose Indian Removal Act of 1830 commissioned the forced removal of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands. More than 4,000 died during their journeys west.
Jackson’s standing had fallen so much that that the U.S. Treasury opted to remove Jackson from the $20 bill.
But Kittell said that attendance at the museum has surged since the election.
“Jackson is probably getting more media attention now,” Kittell said, ‘than when he was president.”
___
Associated Press writers Tom Krisher and Matthew Daly contributed to this report.
Jackson and Trump: How Two Populist Presidents Compare - New York Times
Jackson and Trump: How Two Populist Presidents Compare
*
*
By PETER BAKER
MARCH 15, 2017
President Trump on Wednesday is visiting the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s estate near Nashville, as it begins the celebration of his 250th birthday.
Mr. Trump’s advisers have likened him to Mr. Jackson, the first populist to win the White House. The president has hung Old Hickory’s portrait in the Oval Office and called him “an amazing figure in American history.”
So how alike are the nation’s seventh and 45th presidents?
Physical stature
Mr. Trump, who relishes junk food like Doritos and disdains physical exercise, stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 236 pounds, according to a letter from his doctor last year, qualifying him as overweight with a body mass index of 29.5. Some think he is overstating his height (his driver’s license lists him at 6-foot-2) and understating his weight (one writer estimated by 30 pounds).
Jackson, who survived diseases like smallpox, malaria, dysentery, rheumatism and dropsy and endured physical disability most of his adult life after being shot in the chest during a duel, was just shy of Mr. Trump in stature, standing 6-foot-1. But Jackson was far thinner, with estimates between 145 pounds and 154 pounds, putting his body mass index at 20 or lower.
Military service
At age 13, an unruly Mr. Trump was packed off by his frustrated parents to New York Military Academy, but he never served in the armed forces, receiving five deferments from the draft during the Vietnam War, four for education and one for bone spurs in his heels.
At age 13, Jackson fought with irregulars in the American Revolution and was captured by the British. Over the years, he rose to major general, won the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, fought various Indian tribes and effectively conquered Florida.
Political experience
Mr. Trump is the first American elected president without having served in any political office or as a general. He won an Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton despite drawing only 46 percent of the popular vote. Although a Republican, he often fights his own party orthodoxy on issues like trade and infrastructure spending.
Jackson was the first American elected president who was not part of the Eastern elite although he had served in the House and Senate. In 1824, he won the popular vote but failed to muster a majority in the Electoral College, throwing the race to the House, which chose John Quincy Adams. Four years later, Jackson ousted Adams with 56 percent of the vote, and later won a second term with 54 percent.
Philosophy
Mr. Trump, a wealthy real estate developer known for his bombast, styled himself as a man of the people, beating the dominant political dynasty of his day to win the presidency. He is fighting what his chief strategist calls “the administrative state” and signed orders to build a wall along the Mexican border and temporarily ban visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries. Critics accuse him of having an authoritarian streak, but he thrills supporters with his forthright, bare-knuckles style.
Jackson, a wealthy slaveholding plantation owner known for his bombast, styled himself as a man of the people, beating the dominant political dynasty of his day to win the presidency. He battled the Bank of the United States and signed a law that forced the Cherokee nation out of its land in what was called the Trail of Tears. Critics called him the American Bonaparte for what they saw as his dictatorial streak, but he was popular with everyday Americans who saw him as their champion.
Courting conflict
Mr. Trump relishes fights and made his name in part with a reality television show that pitted contestants against one another, some of whom he dismissed with his classic line, “You’re fired.” He has feuded for years with various figures, including Rosie O’Donnell, whom he has called “a pig,” “a real loser” and “a mentally sick woman.”
Jackson relished fights and made a name for himself as a frequent dueler against those he contended had slighted him. He fought between five and 100 duels, according to historians. In one, he killed a man who had insulted him as “a worthless scoundrel, a poltroon and a coward.” A poltroon was not a good thing to be called.
Battles with courts
After his travel ban was blocked in court, Mr. Trump said, “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!”
After the chief justice of the Supreme Court ruled in a case involving the seizure of Cherokee land in Georgia, Jackson was said to have replied, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.”
The hair
Mr. Trump’s combed-over hair has generated endless commentary. His doctor reported that Mr. Trump takes a prostate-related drug to promote hair growth.
Jackson’s wavy hair in portraits like the one on the $20 bill has long made him stand him out in the presidential pantheon.
Bottom line
Some Jackson biographers find the parallels striking, not necessarily in the details but in the larger picture. “What Mr. Trump borrows from Jackson is not an issue, but a way of thinking about the world,” said Steve Inskeep, the host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and author of “Jacksonland.” But Jon Meacham, author of “American Lion,” said there is “an essential difference,” noting that Jackson had political experience and could be self-aware. “We simply don’t know yet whether Trump possesses the kind of disciplinethat Jackson brought to the presidency,” he wrote.
NYT
*
*
By PETER BAKER
MARCH 15, 2017
President Trump on Wednesday is visiting the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s estate near Nashville, as it begins the celebration of his 250th birthday.
Mr. Trump’s advisers have likened him to Mr. Jackson, the first populist to win the White House. The president has hung Old Hickory’s portrait in the Oval Office and called him “an amazing figure in American history.”
So how alike are the nation’s seventh and 45th presidents?
Physical stature
Mr. Trump, who relishes junk food like Doritos and disdains physical exercise, stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 236 pounds, according to a letter from his doctor last year, qualifying him as overweight with a body mass index of 29.5. Some think he is overstating his height (his driver’s license lists him at 6-foot-2) and understating his weight (one writer estimated by 30 pounds).
Jackson, who survived diseases like smallpox, malaria, dysentery, rheumatism and dropsy and endured physical disability most of his adult life after being shot in the chest during a duel, was just shy of Mr. Trump in stature, standing 6-foot-1. But Jackson was far thinner, with estimates between 145 pounds and 154 pounds, putting his body mass index at 20 or lower.
Military service
At age 13, an unruly Mr. Trump was packed off by his frustrated parents to New York Military Academy, but he never served in the armed forces, receiving five deferments from the draft during the Vietnam War, four for education and one for bone spurs in his heels.
At age 13, Jackson fought with irregulars in the American Revolution and was captured by the British. Over the years, he rose to major general, won the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812, fought various Indian tribes and effectively conquered Florida.
Political experience
Mr. Trump is the first American elected president without having served in any political office or as a general. He won an Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton despite drawing only 46 percent of the popular vote. Although a Republican, he often fights his own party orthodoxy on issues like trade and infrastructure spending.
Jackson was the first American elected president who was not part of the Eastern elite although he had served in the House and Senate. In 1824, he won the popular vote but failed to muster a majority in the Electoral College, throwing the race to the House, which chose John Quincy Adams. Four years later, Jackson ousted Adams with 56 percent of the vote, and later won a second term with 54 percent.
Philosophy
Mr. Trump, a wealthy real estate developer known for his bombast, styled himself as a man of the people, beating the dominant political dynasty of his day to win the presidency. He is fighting what his chief strategist calls “the administrative state” and signed orders to build a wall along the Mexican border and temporarily ban visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries. Critics accuse him of having an authoritarian streak, but he thrills supporters with his forthright, bare-knuckles style.
Jackson, a wealthy slaveholding plantation owner known for his bombast, styled himself as a man of the people, beating the dominant political dynasty of his day to win the presidency. He battled the Bank of the United States and signed a law that forced the Cherokee nation out of its land in what was called the Trail of Tears. Critics called him the American Bonaparte for what they saw as his dictatorial streak, but he was popular with everyday Americans who saw him as their champion.
Courting conflict
Mr. Trump relishes fights and made his name in part with a reality television show that pitted contestants against one another, some of whom he dismissed with his classic line, “You’re fired.” He has feuded for years with various figures, including Rosie O’Donnell, whom he has called “a pig,” “a real loser” and “a mentally sick woman.”
Jackson relished fights and made a name for himself as a frequent dueler against those he contended had slighted him. He fought between five and 100 duels, according to historians. In one, he killed a man who had insulted him as “a worthless scoundrel, a poltroon and a coward.” A poltroon was not a good thing to be called.
Battles with courts
After his travel ban was blocked in court, Mr. Trump said, “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!”
After the chief justice of the Supreme Court ruled in a case involving the seizure of Cherokee land in Georgia, Jackson was said to have replied, “John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it.”
The hair
Mr. Trump’s combed-over hair has generated endless commentary. His doctor reported that Mr. Trump takes a prostate-related drug to promote hair growth.
Jackson’s wavy hair in portraits like the one on the $20 bill has long made him stand him out in the presidential pantheon.
Bottom line
Some Jackson biographers find the parallels striking, not necessarily in the details but in the larger picture. “What Mr. Trump borrows from Jackson is not an issue, but a way of thinking about the world,” said Steve Inskeep, the host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and author of “Jacksonland.” But Jon Meacham, author of “American Lion,” said there is “an essential difference,” noting that Jackson had political experience and could be self-aware. “We simply don’t know yet whether Trump possesses the kind of disciplinethat Jackson brought to the presidency,” he wrote.
NYT
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