“A sad day for our country”. Fed Chair Jerome Powell uses Trump assassination attempt to launch renewed promises for rate cuts.

Photo above - AI rendered art using the prompt "will high mortgage rates cause more home construction?"

Wow – could there be any MORE obvious cause and effect link? Within hours of the failed attempt on Trump’s life, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell condemned the shooting . . . and was AGAIN promising rate cuts. (See links below).

I’ve posted many times in this forum that Powell has done nothing but yank our chain on rates. He’s reversed himself a half dozen times in televised remarks, depending on the inflation data, the stock market indexes, Biden’s poll numbers . . . and now apparently political acts of violence. Which could be pushing Biden's reelection chances down to the basement. Not that Trump has a plan on rates either.

To be fair to Mr. Powell, he DID muse that inflation could possibly to be waning. But he also said he wasn’t going to adhere to previous promises to wait until inflation hit his 2% target. Evidently, he might declare victory at 3.X% and move on. Except nobody believes that 3.x is the true inflation rate. Home prices, fuel, and food certainly don’t support this conclusion. Now there are reports that California’s two largest home insurers are likely to get 30%+ premium increases this year alone. Because of the state’s repeated inability to prevent brush fires. Something similar is happening in Florida and Texas (with smaller premium hikes) because of hurricane threats.

Imagine if your mortgage payment went up $200 because of skyrocketing home insurance premiums. And your payment is also going up because of property tax increases. Where would you find the money?

I have no doubt that Fed rates WILL come down. In time for the election. And that whether the inflation rate is a pretend 2%, 3.7%, or something more reality based won’t matter. We’ve had the highest mortgage interest rates in 20 years recently, and it’s done NOTHING to reduce housing prices. Because raising loan rates does NOT cause more houses and apartments to be built.

You can consult Nobel prize winning economists such as Paul Samuelson, Friedrich Hayek, and Milton Friedman if you’re uncertain about how money works. But don’t consult Karl Marx. He would tell you that dreams of home ownership must be abandoned, for the good of the proletariat, and to smash capitalism. Apparently, that’s where we’re headed with sky high mortgage rates.

I’m just sayin’ . . .

~Fed's Powell condemns Trump assassination attempt: A 'sad day for our country' (msn.com)~

~Dollar drifts as Powell comments bring September rate cut in focus (moneycontrol.com)~