President Trump, in an interview with Reuters, complained about the Federal Reserve's constant interest rate hikes, and the media are complaining as they do about everything Trump does.  But I heard Richard Fisher, who was the president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas from 2005 to 2015, say on CNBC that the president shouldn't be complaining about the interest rate hikes because the economy is doing well because of Trump's deregulation and tax cuts and that the basic reason for the hikes is that when the economy slows down, the Federal Reserve will be able to help the economy by lowering the rates again.

I thought that was one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.  But the correspondent on CNBC called the comments insightful.  The comments were certainly insightful of ignorant thinking. 

The rates were kept artificially low during President Obama's eight years because Obama's high taxes and massive regulations gave us the slowest economic recovery in seventy years, so the rates should now go up some.  The artificially low rates, which Fisher supported, created asset price inflation like farm land and stock prices, but they did not create economic growth.  The Federal Reserve, by raising rates higher than it needs to, causes interest on government debt to skyrocket and essentially punishes people for the past run-up.  Fisher rewarded Obama as he ran up $10 trillion in debt over eight years.

Fisher and the other Federal Reserve governors essentially punished savers, seniors, and pension funds with painfully low savings rates while rewarding government agencies who borrowed massive amounts of money.  That, in turn, punished this and future generations with taxes higher than they needed to be.

The only reason for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in the current environment or any environment would be if inflation were getting out of control.  We aren't seeing that.  It is tremendously hard to inflate a $20-trillion economy much when the rest of the world is slowing down.

President Trump is also doing several things that reduce the inflationary pressure.  He has lowered corporate taxes 14 percentage points, which gives corporations room to absorb some price increases without raising prices much, and the regulatory burden is being rapidly reduced.  He is also increasing the production of energy sources and working with the Saudis to keep prices lower than they otherwise would go.  Opening pipelines also helps.  Furthermore, he is reducing the Obamacare requirements, which allows cheaper options.

Economists were also surprised by a 2.9% jump in productivity in the 2nd quarter of 2018.  (Experts seem to be surprised a lot by the economy these days.  They, like most journalists, are guilty of groupthink.)  Trump has greatly reduced regulations, encouraged manufacturing, and allowed immediate write-offs of equipment purchases.  Sales are up around 10% year over year, exports are up around 9% year over year, the economy is growing around 4%, and the experts are surprised that productivity jumped when the definition of productivity is output per hour of work.  These economists have obviously lost their ability to think independently.

Trump is essentially trying to give the power, purse, and freedom back to the people after years of the government usurping so much power and money for its own members.  Washington, D.C. has thrived while much of the country has been stagnant, so it is truly a shame that as the country is reaping the rewards of Trump's policies, the Federal Reserve is raising rates so it can lower them in the future after it intentionally slows the economy.  It is self-fulfilling.

Why isn't there an independent audit of the Federal Reserve so the people can see what it are doing?

I am glad we have a president willing to question Federal Reserve policy. The media pretend that the Federal Reserve is independent and not political, and that is nuts.  Of course it is political.  Those are the same media that pretend the IRS, intelligence agencies, and the Justice Department were not political under Obama.  That is willful fake reporting to the public. 

It is truly sad when a business correspondent at CNBC believes that it is insightful for anyone to say the Federal Reserve is raising rates so it can lower them again.  It would be nice if journalists, economists, Democrats, and Federal Reserve governors were as interested in individuals and businesses having more power, freedom, and money in the way Trump is, instead of clearly preferring that the politicians and bureaucrats amass greater power and more money than they already have confiscated. 

Remember: capitalism is the greatest way to reduce poverty, not government control and handouts.