Washington, D.C
Fed chairman tries to appease DC and Wall Street with rate cut – Washington Examiner
After an all-out fight against inflation over the past two years, the Federal Reserve recently voted to lower interest rates by a half percentage point. The Sept. 18 move by the central bank was bolder than many investors expected.
The Fed’s first rate cut since the world collapsed in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak drew elation in equities markets. Investors welcomed the supersize rate cut as evidence that the aberration of the last two years of restrictive monetary policy is over.
But reading between the lines, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his peers are not imposing some emergency effort to save markets from themselves. In fact, in the yearslong standoff between the Fed and an investor class addicted to the easy money of the 2008-2022 era, the Fed has quietly won its war. It’s done so mostly by ignoring the demands of both Wall Street and Washington, D.C., to forge forward on almost exactly this path a little less than one year ago.
At its final meeting of 2023, the Fed predicted that it would cut rates three times for a total of 75 basis points, but investors telegraphed more than twice as many cuts beginning in the first quarter of 2024. In reality, the Fed has hewed narrowly to what it said it would do all along. Although the central bank will score the inflation reduction headlines it so desperately wants, it’s once again quietly urging caution.
September’s Summary of Economic Projections shows that still nearly half of the Fed’s voting members believe it will only cut rates once more this year, bringing the total 2024 cuts to 75 basis points, exactly what it predicted late last year. Though a narrow majority says it will cut twice more, the SEP predicts a median interest rate of 3.4% by the end of 2025, close to the 3.6% of the final 2023 SEP projected for the end of 2025.
The Fed has also remained precise and constant in its prediction that long-run interest rates will even out at 2.9%, far from the zero-bound once assumed as the default neutral interest rate. Powell reiterated as much during his postmeeting press conference, agreeing that “the neutral rate is probably significantly higher than it was back” during the Zero Interest-Rate Policy era.
Most importantly, the Fed isn’t done. Even beyond Powell’s usual caveats that the Fed remains data-dependent and committed to inflation falling below its 2% target in the long run, the central bank also promised to continue to undo its balance sheet, “reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities.”
In other words, quantitative tightening is far from over, and even when it is, a return to ZIRP seems highly unlikely.
And while already politicos on both sides of the aisle have been jockeying to spin the Fed’s decision for maximum partisan advantage, the Fed has stuck so closely to the script that it’s difficult to imagine either side succeeding in claiming that monetary policy has rigged the 2024 election. By the time Powell announced the September rate cut, let alone, by the time it even trickled down to reduced credit card APRs and mortgage rates, early voting had already begun in lynchpin swing states such as Pennsylvania, with five more states commencing before the month’s end.
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It’s not the Fed has played its part perfectly. Far from it — the Fed’s complicity in financing the bipartisan coronavirus spending spree in 2020 and then its refusal to cut off President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021 is why the economy suffered its worst inflationary crisis in 40 years in the first place.
But by its narrow definition of success, the Fed might have pulled off the impossible, and by that, I don’t mean balancing full employment with basic price stability. It’s too soon to say that it has achieved a soft landing, but as far as evading blame from Washington, D.C., and Wall Street, Powell has gotten his greatest wish: insulting the Fed from the institutional blame game of 2024.
TNND — A new report from the House Oversight Committee alleges former D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith pressured officers to manipulate crime data. The committee released the report on Sunday, less than a week after Smith announced she was stepping down.
You’re lulling people into this false sense of security. They might go places they wouldn’t ordinarily go. They might do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do,” said Betsy Brantner Smith, spokesperson for the National Police Association.
Included in the report were transcribed interviews with the commanders of all seven D.C. patrol districts and the former commander currently on suspended leave. One was asked, “Over the last few years, has there been any internal pressure to simply bring down crime statistics?” Their response, “Yes, I mean extremethere’s always been pressure to keep crime down, but the focus on statistics… has come in with this current administration.”
Every single person who lives, works, or visits the District of Columbia deserves a safe city, yet it’s now clear the American people were deliberately kept in the dark about the true crime rates in our nation’s capital,” House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said in a statement.
“They are going to have to regain the public trust. Again, this is a huge integrity issue,” Brantner Smith said.
Among the reports findings, Smith’s alleged pressured campaign against staff led to inaccurate crime data. Smith punished or removed officers for reporting accurate crime numbers. Smith fostered a toxic culture and President Trump’s federal law enforcement surge in D.C. is working.
While Smith has not yet publicly responded to the report, she’s previously denied allegations of manipulating crime data, saying the investigation did not play a factor into her decision to step down at the end of the year.
My decision was not factored into anything with respect to, other than the fact that it’s time. I’ve had 28 years in law enforcement. I’ve had some time to think with my family,” Smith said earlier this month.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also released a statement Monday, writing in part that “the interim report betrays its bias from the outset, admitting that it was rushed to release.”
According to crime stats from the Metropolitan Police Department, since the federal law enforcement surge started in August, total violent crime is down 26%. Homicides are down 12% and carjackings 37%.
The first candle lit on the National Menorah near the White House in Washington, D.C., marked the first night of Hanukkah — and solemnly honored victims of the Bondi Beach shooting.
The National Menorah Lighting was held Sunday night, hours after gunmen opened fire on a crowd celebrating the beginning of Hanukkah at Australia’s iconic Bondi Beach. Fifteen people were killed, including a 10-year-old girl, a rabbi and a Holocaust survivor, and over three dozen others were being treated at hospitals.
Authorities in Australia said it was a terrorist attack targeting Jewish people.
Organizers behind the National Menorah Lighting said the news from Australia, along with the bitter cold, forced them to consider whether or not to hold the annual event.
After consulting with local law enforcement, National Menorah Lighting organizers decided to hold the event and honor the victims.
Several D.C.-area police departments issued statements confirming there are no known threats to local communities, but are monitoring just in case.
Montgomery County Executive Mark Elrich condemned the attack and said community safety is a priority.
“Acts of antisemitism, especially those meant to intimidate families and communities during moments of gathering and celebration, must be called out clearly and condemned without hesitation,” Elrich said. “I have heard directly from members of Montgomery County’s Jewish community who are shaken and concerned, and I want them to know that their safety is a priority.”
WASHINGTON (7News) — Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith is facing yet another scathing report accusing her of manipulating crime data in the city.
The 22-page document from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform comes less than a week after a separate draft report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and days after Chief Smith turned in her resignation.
The main difference between the Congressional report and the DOJ report is that this new one, released on December 14, contains transcribed interviews directly with commanders from all seven MPD patrol districts.
RELATED | DC Police settles with former employee over claims that crime numbers were manipulated
The testimony reveals how Chief Smith chastised and, in some cases, publicly humiliated staff in crime briefings.
“The Committee’s investigation heard consistent testimony about frustration and exhaustion among MPD commanders and the manifestation of a culture of fear, intimidation, threats, and retaliation by Chief Smith. Often, these manifestations were triggered whenever the Chief was presented with what she considers ‘bad news,’ particularly when that news pertained to any rise in public crime statistics. Chief Smith, according to testimonies, regularly took action against her subordinates who failed to aid in the preservation of her public image,” the report states on page two.
RELATED | Trump announces probe into DC police for inflating crime stats amid safety claims
The committee launched the investigation in August when whistleblowers came forward with concerns about data manipulation.
One line of questioning in the report states:
Question: Over the last few years, has there been any internal pressure to simply bring down crime statistics?
Answer: Yes, I mean extreme… there’s always been pressure to keep crime down, but the focus on statistics… has come in with this current administration or regime, and you know, that has manifested publicly.
7News reached out to Mayor Bowser’s Office for a comment in response to the report. A spokesperson provided the following statement:
The men and women of the Metropolitan Police Department run towards danger every day to reduce homicides, carjackings, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and more. The precipitous decline in crime in our city is attributable to their hard work and dedication and Chief Smith’s leadership.
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I thank Chief Smith for her commitment to the safety of D.C. residents and for holding the Metropolitan Police Department to an exacting standard, and I expect no less from our next Chief of Police.
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