Good read... even has graphs.
Federal Funds Target Rate: A Look At Donald Trump Versus Barack Obama
Highlights...
Inflation According to Obama and Trump
With the Federal Reserve being a complete cheerleader for almost the entire length of the Obama presidency makes one wonder whether the Federal Reserve only thought the Obama administration was merely a poor choice for the economy.
Here’s a look at the growth in prices throughout the Obama administration and how prices
have moved during the first year-and-a-half of the Trump administration.
Interestingly, through 15 months of the Obama administration, inflation was up about 2.6%. Over the same amount of time, inflation is up only 2.2% during the Trump administration.
Prices generally kept rising during the Obama administration, eventually ending up 14.6% over Obama’s entire eight years in office.
Fascinatingly, although inflation was a little bit higher of a problem during Obama’s presidency, the Federal Reserve has been much more aggressive at raising interest rates during President Trump’s administration, having already increased the federal funds target rate four times during Trump’s first 16 months in office. It took the Federal Reserve almost seven years before it got around to raising interest rates during the Obama administration.
Political Bias or Something Else?
Is there any way to make a judgment on the political bias of the Federal Reserve? The answer is – of course not. But, the fact that the Federal Reserve failed to take any real, substantive action for almost seven years during the Obama administration might raise some eyebrows. The economy was doing fine and on solid footing back in 2012 or 2014, both years the Federal Reserve could have been more prudent about
managing interest rates.
But, they failed to act back then. And now
they’re moving. Hmm, is this funny or discouraging?
Conclusion
In looking at Federal Reserve actions on its federal funds target rate over the Obama and Trump administrations, it appears quite clear that something is going on there at the Federal Reserve when it comes to politics. What is going on is the question.
