
Trump backs off earlier claims that he should directly control interest rates
CNN
Former President Donald Trump attempted to soften previous comments he made about exerting direct control over the Federal Reserve, including setting rates.
Former President Donald Trump attempted in a new interview to soften previous comments he made about exerting direct control over the Federal Reserve, including setting rates. “A president certainly can be talking about interest rates because I think I have very good instincts,” Trump said in an interview Monday with Bloomberg. “That doesn’t mean I’m calling the shot, but it does mean that I should have a right to be able to talk about it like anybody else.” “I think it’s fine for a president to talk,” Trump added. “It doesn’t mean that they have to listen.” Throughout his presidency, Trump tried to publicly pressure the Fed into cutting rates — a breach of protocol that threatened to undermine the independence of the central bank and its ability to keep jobs booming and inflation low. Earlier this month, Trump said at a press conference that he’d try to exert direct power over monetary policy. “I feel the president should have at least a say in there. I feel that strongly,” Trump said at the press conference. “I made a lot of money. I was very successful. And I think I have a better instinct than, in many cases, people that would be on the Federal Reserve — or the chairman.”

An initial reading of third-quarter gross domestic product showed the US economy expanded at an inflation-adjusted annualized rate of 4.3%, a far faster pace than the 3.8% recorded in the second quarter, according to Commerce Department data released Tuesday. That’s the fastest growth rate in two years.

Paramount has upped the ante in its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, announcing Monday that Larry Ellison will personally guarantee the tens of billions of dollars he is putting up to bankroll the transaction. The Ellisons will also let shareholders peer into the finances of their family trust.











