Fed Increases Fed Funds Rate Twice Since Trump Elected President – Only Once in Obama’s 8 Years

Guest post by Joe Hoft

In the past 10 years there have been only three Fed Funds rate increases.  Two of those increases have occurred since President Trump won the election on November 8th, 2016. 

No Fed Funds Rate increases took place between June 2006 and December 2015.  CNBC reported in December 2015 that President Obama oversaw “seven years of the most accommodative monetary policy in U.S. history” (from the Fed).  Finally, in December 2015 after the Fed announced its first increase in the Fed Funds rate during the Obama Presidency, it was reported that:

Given the economic outlook, and recognizing the time it takes for policy actions to affect future economic conditions, the committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to ¼ to ½ percent,” the FOMC’s post-meeting statement said. “The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative after this increase, thereby supporting further improvements in labor Premarket conditions and a return to 2 percent inflation.”

The only other Fed Funds Rate increases since 2016 were after President Trump was elected President. The Fed Funds Rate increased on December 14, 2016 and again a couple days ago on March 15th, 2017 by .25% .

The Fed Funds Rate greatly impacts the economy:

Lower interest rates usually spur the economy by making corporate and consumer borrowing easier. Higher interest rates are intended to slow down the economy by making borrowing harder.

So the question is whether the Fed is trying to negatively impact President Trump’s economic recovery from the abysmal Obama years (Obama was the only President where the GDP growth rate never broke 3% ) or is the economy just so much better now that President Trump has taken office?

We suspect both.

President Obama’s policies were so horrible that the historically low Fed Funds Interest rate was needed to keep the economy alive.  Also, President Trump’s policies of lower taxes, repealing and replacing Obamacare and slashing regulations all will lead to economic prosperity for the United States.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft's articles here.

 

Thanks for sharing!