FDL Review

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Editorial: Federal Reserve is Certifiably Insane

The Federal Reserve System raised the federal funds rate, which determines U.S. interest rates, from .5-.75% all the way to 2.25-2.50% following the inauguration of President Donald Trump. As we noted in our flagship editorial on monetary policy, these hikes sprouted from the Fed's over-reliance on Phillips curve, which led them to intentionally dampen economic growth. They did their job so well that it was to a fault:

Between the September 27, 2018 rate hike and the aftermath of the December 20, 2018 increase, the Dow Jones industrial average shed a total of 4,648 points.

Meanwhile, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond plunged from 3.06% (September 27th) to 2.74% (December 24th) while the 1-month yield surged from 2.1% to 2.42%. The indication is that as the Fed continuously hiked their rates, investors became more and more frightened: The Treasury had to pay more to service short-term debt because creditors, unsure about short-term economic conditions, flocked to long-ter…

Editorial: Farage, Thomas, and Democracy

The Brexit Party, the four-month-old brainchild of Nigel Farage, is projected to win the plurality of Britain's seats in the European Parliament. A recent poll by YouGov shows the Brexit Party commanding 37% of the votes, trouncing Labor and the Conservatives, who are polling at 13% and 7%, respectively. The actual vote was held Thursday and results are expected to come out Sunday.

The early success of the fledgling Brexit Party are much to the dismay of the mainstream media, with The New Yorker decrying "The Alarming Return of Nigel Farage." However, for everyone other than the journalistic bourgeoisie, it is abundantly obvious why Farage has commanded such a lead: Britain is still electing European parliamentarians, three years after voting to leave the E.U.
On that fateful day in June 2016, in the face of the unelected body of bureaucratic tyrants that is the E.U., the British people cried out and said, "Enough!"
Nonetheless, the British are still living und…

Editorial: Rep. Amash Isn't an Honest Broker

On Twitter, Representative Justin Amash (R-Michigan) wrote that "President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment," becoming the first Republican incumbent to call for Trump's impeachment.

Amash's commentary temporarily replaced the abortion debate as the weekend's cause célèbre, spurring a glut of Twitter comments. One user, identifying with the anti-Trump Resistance movement, wrote to Amash: "Thank you for your courage and decency, we need it so badly!"

Much to the contrary, no "courage" or "decency" has been exhibited by Amash. Despite the attention that his tweets attracted, his calls for impeachment are mired by his ambition and his commentary should be taken with a large nugget of salt.

Amash is considering a run for the Oval Office on the 2020 Libertarian ticket, which would almost certainly split the conservative vote and elect a Democrat president. True to form for…

Editorial: Change the Elitist Culture of the Federal Reserve

In 1939's Gone With the Wind, a Southern belle takes a nouveau riche's hand in a dance. This is to the chagrin of her Aunt Pittypat, who exclaims, "Oh dear, oh dear, where are my smelling salts? I think I shall faint!"

Stories of landed gentry finding true love outside of caste-based parameters, much to the disapproval of the vieux riche, are as old as time. Now, in the made-for-television era of President Donald Trump, the narrative of class struggle is playing out in the unlikeliest of arenas: monetary policy.
Through posts on Twitter, the president announced that he will nominate Herman Cain and Stephen Moore to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Cain, a restauranteur, was formerly chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and president of the National Restaurant Association. Moore, the co-founder of the Club for Growth, is a prominent economic commentator currently serving as a fellow at the Heritage Foundation. Moore's credentials are burnishe…

Editorial: Ahead of 2020, President Trump is the Favorite

Several days ago, the front page of POLITICO, reliably a left-leaning journal, was graced by a surprising banner: "How Trump is on track for a 2020 landslide."

The article focused on economic models, including one from Yale that has President Donald Trump winning 54% of the popular vote. Another, from TrendMacrolytics, predicts a 416-122 Electoral College win for the president (the final count in 2016 was 304-227).

While FDL Review prefers to use titlecase for headlines, we appreciate POLITICO's sobriety. It is obvious that their journalists have learned the lessons of the 2016 election, when the pollsters and the commentariat were measuring Secretary Hillary Clinton's White House drapes.

Of course, Clinton was vanquished by Donald Trump in an upset surprising to everyone except those who had examined the fundamental indicators: weak economic data, widespread despair, and a willingness to drastically change the culture of Washington, D.C.

If POLITICO's reporting …

Editorial: President Trump Makes Right Call

On Thursday, the White House confirmed that President Donald Trump will sign the bipartisan budget compromise passed by Congress, which includes $1.375 billion for 55 miles of border barriers. The spending bill appropriates $328 billion overall and will fund the government through September 30, 2019, avoiding another shutdown.

However, the president made it clear that his signature will be applied reluctantly. To supplement the bill's $1.375 billion in funding for border barriers, Trump intends to declare a national emergency and tap unused money held by the Defense Department.

The authorization for this course of action is found within the Constitution of the United States and the National Emergencies Act of 1976.

The Constitution states that the president "shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States." Accordingly, it is within the purview of the commander-in-chief, in this case Donald Trump, to utilize funds appropriated to the Defense Departm…