What? Another national emergency and other things

Word is that the president may declare another national “emergency.” If so it will be his 22nd – 10 already this term. Don’t you get images of the little boy who cried “wolf”? Trump’s assertion that trade deficits constitute a “national emergency” is a joke. However, this was the only basis that could invoke his use of tariffs. Now he is contemplating invoking a national emergency in housing. Mind you there is not a shortage of housing. In fact the amount of housing units available far exceed the current demand for housing. The issue, some say, is “affordability”. This has always puzzled me. Is there a mismatch of housing demand and supply locally? One republican congressman says “When you have a housing shortage and a supply issue, it pushes up valuations, which pushes up your property taxes, because your valuation goes up. It pushes up home insurance premiums because the value of your home is more expensive if there was some kind of a claim.” Again there is no housing shortage. This issue is – dare I say – a manufactured one. Currently there are 15 million more housing units than households. So what crisis? This may just be an excuse to get Trump involved in more government interference with the market. American socialism? State capitalism? Trump socialism!

What constitutes a national emergency? No one knows. Under the 1976 National Emergencies Act, the President can declare a national emergency at his discretion. The act does not provide an explicit definition of what constitutes an “emergency.”  The simple declaration of an emergency would allow the president to bypass congress. This is all the congress’ fault. It should amend the law and mandate that a declaration be ratified by the congress. Trump loves to declare emergencies. Thus far did you know that he has declared ten of them, ranging from the trade deficit to the “crime emergency” in DC.

Don’t forget that despite the evidence, the democrats think that the climate constitutes an existential threat, i.e. a national emergency. Can you imagine what would have happened if Biden had declared a national emergency? Look for the next democrat president to do so.

If congress doesn’t change the law, its only recourse is to pass legislation terminating the emergency. Of course the president can veto it and it would take a super majority of the congress to override. Good luck with that.

Fed Governor Cook not cooked – yet

U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb has temporarily blocked President Trump’s removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. “The judge concluded that the alleged mortgage misconduct likely didn’t amount to ’cause’ to fire her under the Federal Reserve Act, and that the way in which she was dismissed likely violated her due process rights under the Constitution.”  Bloomberg.

This means that Cook can stay at the Fed and participate in the Open Market Committee’s meeting next week. It is widely anticipated that the Fed will cut the Fed funds rate. It will be interesting to see how Cook votes.  

The judge wrote “The best reading of the ‘for cause’ provision is that the bases for removal of a member of the Board of Governors are limited to grounds concerning a Governor’s behavior in office and whether they have been faithfully and effectively executing their statutory duties.” 

Obviously the administration will rush to appeal Judge Cobb’s ruling. But it is apparent that the judge does not view the charge against Cook sufficient to justify firing for cause. The charge against her has been referred to the Justice Department for possible prosecution. It would be interesting if a conviction on a felony would then be sufficient to justify her firing.

Again, why isn’t there a clamor for Adam Schiff to resign from the senate and Letitia James to quit as New York attorney general? Aren’t they accused of the same thing as Governor Cook? Why haven’t criminal charges been filed against them too?

By the way, I am tired of every article mentioning that Cook is the first black woman to be a Fed governor.

I am also tired of seeing those on the right asserting that Cook has no business being on the Board of Governors because she is not an expert in monetary economics. I have previously pointed out that only Governor Waller is trained in monetary economics and that if that were the criteria, then he would be the only governor. Traditionally, the Fed governors have had a variety of skills and of the ones that are economists, international economics (Cook) and labor economics (Jefferson) are commonly found on the board.

What did Elon say?

Did you see where Josh Hawley (R-Mo) wants to ban driverless cars? What about the driverless trucks that are now on some roads? Elon Musk is putting much of his fortune on driverless technology. Hawley who is somewhat of a maverick thinker is in this instance a Luddite. Like it or not, driverless technology is the future.

More bogus job numbers?

The Labor Department now says that the economy added 911,000 fewer jobs than previously estimated in the 12 months ending in March. This is no surprise to me. I know from long personal experience that job statistics are generally inflated and are revised downward. I also have seen almost daily reports of businesses shedding jobs. The question is are we ever going to be able the data coming out of this or any administration?