President Donald Trump has repeatedly referred to the American economy under his second term as a "golden age." A conservative editorial board disagrees strongly with that self-assessment.
"The Labor Department’s inflation report on Wednesday was disappointing, and it explains why voters remain unhappy about the economy," wrote The Wall Street Journal's editorial board on Wednesday. "Prices are rising faster than wages."
The newspaper continued, "The consumer-price index rose 0.6 percent in September and is up 3.7 percent over 12 months. Energy accounted for more than half of the increase as supply disruptions from the Iran war push up prices. Consumers will get some relief when oil and fuel supplies return to normal, but it could be awhile."
From there, the editorial board briefly surveyed the landscape in prices, explaining why energy, food and other prices are rising in a landscape of erratic tariffs and a prolonged war in the Middle East.
"The lesson for monetary policy is that the Federal Reserve under former Chairman Jerome Powell was premature in easing in late 2024 and last year. Inflation rebounded each time," the editorial board wrote. "Mr. Powell, who remains a Fed Governor, did no favors for successor Kevin Warsh."
Warsh's biggest obstacle at present, though, may be Trump himself.
"President Trump wants the Fed to cut rates as he always does, rain or shine, spring, summer, winter or fall," the editorial board concluded. "But the Fed clearly has more work to do against inflation. Mr. Trump ought to give Mr. Warsh the support to squash it. That is, unless the President wants inflation to remain a losing issue for Republicans in 2028 the way it looks like it will be for the party on Election Day this year."
Conservatives are not alone in urging Warsh to stand firm against Trump's pressure. Dr. Robert J. Shapiro, an economic who served as a top adviser for President Bill Clinton, told AlterNet in August that "Trump has been attacking the Fed for as long as he's been in office for not cutting interest rates. But you don't cut interest rates when inflation is rising, because cutting rates stimulates the economy — meaning you increase demand without increasing supply, so prices go up. Powell refused to cut rates because he said, in effect, 'We're in an inflationary period; once we contain inflation, we can cut rates.' Trump has made that much harder by increasing inflation through both the tariffs and the effects of the war on Iran."
He continued, "Even [Kevin] Warsh, Trump's handpicked successor to [Jerome] Powell, hasn't cut rates. But the market believes there's a significant possibility that he will, given the pressure Trump has been putting on him — and in anticipation of that, they've been driving long-term rates up. We'll see what Warsh does. My own guess is that he'll wait until right before or right after the election to raise rates, because he doesn't set policy alone — interest rate policy is made by a committee at the Federal Reserve comprising the seven members of the Board plus five of the regional bank presidents, and there's increasing pressure among them to raise rates."
