Fed Signals It's Not Going to Mess With Interest Rate, As Inflation Continues to Weigh Down Consumers

On Wednesday, as a round-up to the banking group's quarterly meetings, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) would forgo making any change to the interest rate for the fourth time in a row.

As a result, the Fed did not reduce interest rates for the fourth time in a row — which remain at the highest level since early 2001 — as it insists it is working toward getting inflation back to its goal of just two percent.

The latest release of the Consumer Price Index showed that annualized core inflation remains nearly double the Fed's goal at 3.9 percent. Notably, one phrase that has been included in every FOMC statement since the March 2023 failures of banks including Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank was not included in Wednesday's release: "The U.S. banking system is sound and resilient."

As readers likely realize, inflation growth has slowed down--it hasn't decreased. The interest rate news comes on the same day Issues & Insights/TIPP released its latest poll taking the temperature of American consumers, which finds that a shocking two-thirds of voters polled said they are "living 'paycheck to paycheck'" under Bidenomics:

What’s equally surprising is that the public’s concern is bipartisan, with 63% of Democrats, 67% of Republicans, and 62% of independents saying they’re just scraping by each payday.

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White House Refusing to Disclose Docs Showing Biden Called for Firing Prosecutor Investigating Burisma

The House Oversight Committee is taking the Biden administration to task for refusing to hand over documentation that is critical for the impeachment inquiry that was launched in 2023. This could be the beginning of a contentious political battle in the nation’s capital as top House committee chairs are intensifying their efforts to obtain early drafts of a 2015 speech given by then-Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer (R-KY), House Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), and House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) sent a letter on Wednesday to White House Counsel Edward Siskel, demanding that the administration provide the documents.

The inquiry is part of the investigation to determine the extent to which President Biden was involved in his son’s foreign business dealings.

The committee chairs accused the White House of employing “dilatory tactics” and obstructing the investigation. "Such a lengthy delay in processing a discrete and limited category of documents is unacceptable and appears to represent an attempt to obstruct the Committees’ legitimate investigation," the chairmen wrote.

The House chairman demanded again that the Biden administration turn over the requested documentation and threatened to use other legal means to compel the disclosure if the White House continues to refuse. While they did not specify what legal avenues they would pursue, it seems likely that they could issue a subpoena for the 2015 speech or possibly hold individuals in contempt of Congress.

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