Category World News

Jerome Powell, the head of the US Federal Reserve, has been criticizing him for slowing down interest rates, as opposed to US President Donald Trump for months.

Trump has threatened to fire Powell and pressured him to resign, going further than his predecessor, who has not been the first president to do so.

Trump’s barbs have raised questions about the possibility that the Fed will lose its independence, which would have significant effects on the US economy.

What has Powell been said by Trump?

The Fed’s decision to maintain its benchmark interest rate range of 4.25 to 4.50 percent has been Trump’s main gripe with Powell.

To keep inflation at a minimum, the US central bank has resisted calls to lower the rate, which would lower the cost of borrowing across the economy.

Powell and his associates worry that prices will increase significantly in the upcoming weeks and months as a result of Trump’s tariffs, despite current low inflation.

Trump has suggested that the rate should be as low as 1%.

Trump has been in disagreement with Powell since his first term, when he nominates him for the position. However, in April, the president launched an aggressive attack against Powell, calling him a “major loser” and “numbskull” whose “termination cannot come quickly enough.”

Trump has since asked a group of Republican lawmakers for their views on the subject, and he has made contradictory remarks about whether he intends to fire Powell.

Other senior White House officials have joined the condemnation effort, just as Trump has done with Powell.

Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought accused Powell of shoddy handling the “ostentatious” $ 2.5 billion renovation of the Fed’s Washington, DC, earlier this month.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demanded a review of the renovation project on Tuesday and that the Fed’s practices “persistent mandate creep into areas beyond its core mission.”

I requested a review of the Federal Reserve today in a CNBC interview. I think the central bank should conduct a thorough internal review of its non-monetary policy operations. The Fed has expanded into areas where institutional growth and significant mission creep…

Does Trump have the authority to oust Powell?

The head of the Fed is more difficult to remove than the head of other independent government departments.

The president may sack the central bank’s head “for cause,” which is widely understood to be evidence of corruption or malfeasance, under the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

The Fed was further insulated from political pressure by a landmark 1935 Supreme Court decision, which made it clear that independent agency heads could not be fired without cause.

The Trump Administration appeared to be zoning in on the Fed’s renovation project to use it as a pretext to fire Powell, according to David Wilcox, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and former member of the Federal Reserve Board.

According to Wilcox, “The way they’re doing that is they’re drumming up a lot of controversy regarding the costs that have been and will be spent on the renovation of two of the historic buildings.”

The alleged mishandling of this situation by Powell seems to be the stoke of criticism, and it’s possible that this extremely small-scale incident will be used as a justification for Powell’s firing “for cause.”

Does Trump’s campaign against Powell have any past success?

Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, both of whom were Democrats and Republicans, famously pressured the Fed chair to maintain low interest rates in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Some historians believe that Nixon’s sway over Arthur Burns, the then-Fed chair, prevented him from initiating rate increases that might have prevented double-digit inflation starting in the middle of the 1970s.

What results from compromising central bank independence? According to Potomac River Capital CIO and Federal Reserve historian Mark Spindel, it has the potential to provide some kind of short-term gain for long-term pain.

And politicians are forgetful, too.

What will the market say after Powell’s resignation?

Markets have been tangled up by suggestions that Trump might scuttle Powell.

Following reports that Trump had asked Republican lawmakers whether he should fire the Fed chair, the benchmark US S&amp, P 500 briefly dropped by 0.7 percent and the US dollar dropped by 0.9 percent on Wednesday.

The most recent instance of what investors have dubbed the “TACO Trade” – short for “Trump Always Chickens Out” – was when Trump denied that he had any plans to remove Powell.

The US economy’s confidence and stock market would suffer significantly if Trump followed up on his threat to remove Powell, according to Wilcox.

“A rise in the anticipated inflation that is built into borrowing rates is probably a result.” An increase in risk premiums that are incorporated into long-term Treasury rates would reflect this, he added.

The loss of confidence that would result from the destruction of yet another important aspect of the economy, which has been ignored for many decades, would likely be reflected in the weakening of the US dollar.

Why wouldn’t Trump want Powell to be fired?

Spindel, a professor of economics, predicted that Powell might decide to stay in spite of his threats.

According to Spindel, the Fed chairman’s term expires in May of next year, and until then, Trump can use Powell as a scapegoat for any economic issues.

According to Spindel, Trump also views the stock market as a crucial indicator of success.

He claimed that the market’s influence on his policies is significant.

Isaac Barnes’ face is covered in sweat as he transports boxes of honeycomb from his hives to his truck. As the evening temperatures rise, it feels like a sauna.

Barnes had more heat than his bees, though. Their body temperatures can reach 15 degrees Celsius (27 degrees Fahrenheit) above the air in their vicinity. Scientists are attempting to understand the effects of rising global temperatures on managed and wild bees as they pollinate crops, produce nectar, make honey, and reproduce.

According to a study published last year, they noticed that flying bees that gather nectar kept their body temperature below dangerous levels. Bees may retreat to a cooler setting, such as the shade or their nest, as do humans, according to scientists.

Bees actually do the same thing to avoid the heat, according to Jon Harrison, an Arizona State University environmental physiologist and one of the study’s authors.

Most bees are generally heat-tolerant, but some experts believe that their ability to withstand disease and produce food might increase as the weather warms. The global decline of bees and other pollinators may be a result of habitat loss, increased use of pesticides, diseases, and a lack of forage for both managed and wild bees.

Beekeepers lost almost 56% of their managed colonies, the highest loss since the survey’s inception, according to preliminary findings from the annual US Beekeeping Survey, which was released earlier this year.

Almost all of the United States’ managed honeybee colonies are used to pollinate crops like blueberries, cherries, and almonds. Less pollination and lower yields can be caused by lower pollinators.

As Isaac Barnes gathers boxes to bring back to his farm for honey production, thousands of honeybees fly around in Ohio’s hives as they fly around. A few of his bees nest nearby on milkweed flowers, a rare example of plant diversity in a region rich in maize and soya bean fields.

One of the challenges that heat can present to his 500 honeybee hives is fending off parasitic mites that threaten the bees, according to Barnes, who runs Honeyrun Farm with his wife Jayne. He is unable to apply formic acid, an organic compound that kills mites, when the temperatures are too hot. The bees could perish if it is applied too hot.

Nearly a third of the 400 hives they sent to California last year were lost in the effort to pollinate commercial almond groves. Barren believes that those hives may have been in poor health prior to pollination because they couldn’t prevent mites during the hotter months.

People have only recently become aware of the global pollinator decline, according to Arizona State University’s Harrison. There are no conclusive evidence about how pollinators are declining as a result of climate change and heat stress.

The US Geological Survey Bee Lab, which supports the collection, monitoring, and natural history of the nation’s wild bees, would be eliminated under the proposed budget of the Trump administration. Bee research grants that are awarded are also in jeopardy.

Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, a senator from the US, said pollinators in “grave danger” and would fight for federal funding. He claimed that pollinators help with the planet’s health, as well as the food we consume.

The Trump administration’s reckless budget proposal, which would eliminate funding for important research aimed at saving important pollinators, was addressed in a statement to The Associated Press news agency.

If his federal funding is cut, Harrison predicted that his research on this subject would be put to a halt. In addition, it would be more difficult for scientists to study the disappearance of bees and other pollinators and to improve their methods of preventing these losses. The cost of fruits, vegetables, nuts, coffee, and chocolate may rise or decrease as a result of not being able to control these pollinator deaths.

Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone, and the Banana Islands, respectively, scream as Emmanuel Pratt tugs a worn cord and the outboard engine bursts into life as the sun sets below. Through the murky waters, his white and fading blue wooden canoe cuts through. Fruit bats scream overhead.

Pratt, 35, is a veteran sea cucumber diver from Sierra Leone’s Banana Islands, a population of about 500. He has spent the past 15 years looking for warty, oversized sea slugs by scouring the ocean floor. They scurry up the ocean floor and emerge at night to gobble up decomposing matter while hiding in silt during the day.

Omolade Jones, age 25, perches on the edge of the boat and looks out at the dark water while also sweating in a half-zipped-up wetsuit.

The younger diver gestures at Pratt to stop the engine and prepares to dive after ten minutes. Jones catches an underwater torch, snags it, and fastens his waist with a breathing hose.

The small, jungle-clad archipelago’s seabed is full of sea cucumbers. They are now a teeming with and dispersed. Freediving is no longer an option, according to Wikipedia. Pratt and Jones must look for their catch for a while before doing so.

The boat’s “hookah diving” system, which involves lowering air from a diesel-powered generator through a plastic hose, has been abandoned. It offers a lifeline that is fragile and risky. Diesel fumes can easily contaminate the air and the engines are frequently outdated. Additionally, it is much riskier than free diving or scuba diving, according to experts.

Jones squirms into the dark water as the diesel engine in the boat rattles. As he evades the canoe, the yellow hose leaves him in the distance. His torch is lit up a column of water above the seabed a few minutes later.

With his eyes fixed on Jones’s light, Pratt sits on the canoe, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He glumly says, “The cucumbers are running out.

They used to haul in dozens of buckets of sea cucumbers each night, but now they can’t seem to locate any. Pratt claims that the divers’ income is hardly ever higher than $40 per dive, which is barely enough to cover the cost of fuel or the rental of some of the diving equipment.

Jones exits the boat shortly after lighting up his torch to indicate that he is prepared to return. He raises his forearms to the side to support himself when he reaches the canoe. He holds the torch in one hand and the other, a tiny, brown sea cucumber.

Pratt turns his attention to the dark water and disappears. A sea cucumber is displayed a while later. However, the divers are unsatisfied. With only three specimens in their bag, they return to the mooring after a short while at sea.