Quite a change from the days of the House of Orange - when Cheeto would merely have to grunt, and Jerry would bring rates down in a snap.

"Can I play my kazoo for thee, o master?"

"Away with thee, fool! My daughter *ahem* awaits!"

and then the cutting began -- all well before the pandemic.

# Federal Funds Effective Rate - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FEDFUNDS

# Fed Funds Rate Lower Limit (since 12/15/08): https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DFEDTARL
# Fed Funds Rate Upper Limit (since 12/15/08): https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/DFEDTARU

# Effective Fed Funds rate (daily), and the target range: https://www.newyorkfed.org/markets/reference-rates/effr

His Orangeness was, as you know, faced a tough re-election battle - even before Covid - and was convinced lower rates would guarantee his re-election.

At the time, I remember it being something of a scandal - since this country prides itself in the independence of its Federal Reserve (of course, that depends on who you ask).

Indeed - one of the things we chide other countries' central banks for, is their policy subordination to whoever happens to be president at the time.

Leave to Cheeto to import 3rd world central banking practices to the U.S. - like so many other things!

But enough of that. Happy New Year, Progree!

Your expertise and insights are always rewarding to read.

All the Best!

but he did. Well before the pandemic. While the unemployment rate was at the lowest it had been in decades.

And thanks for your kind remarks and your informative news and insights as well! As well as keeping us up to date on Argentina. We are so overly focused on the U.S. and U.K. economies at DU, so it's good to know how things are going elsewhere. And Happy New Year to you too!

I spent the first two hours or so of New Years Day thinking I had to reset the clocks, but I finally got that out of my head

In some ways, it's been an economic canary-in-the coal mine for the U.S.

The Bush derivatives disaster, for example, was a more sophisticated, much larger variant of Argentina's ruinous "financial bicycle" collapse in '81.

$30 billion or so in dollar debts taken on, largely to finance the dollarizing and offshoring of peso assets (by both local elites and foreign fly-by-nighters) - with the country left holding the bag.

(they had another such experience with Trump's pal Macri in 2016-18 - hence their current problems)

The biggest difference, really, is that we have a Fed that can absorb bad debts and other "toxic" assets - and with an almost limitless capacity to do so.

And Argentina (like most countries) doesn't.

So for all its imperfections and opaqueness - whenever I hear right-wingers bitch about the Fed (and boy, do they love to!), I remind them about that.

A blessing most countries simply don't have - not by a mile.