Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!
Final Note

Trump said the Fed is keeping rates ‘artificially low’ to help Obama. That’s a lie.

Kai Ryssdal Sep 12, 2016
HTML EMBED:
COPY
Drew Angerer and Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Final Note

Trump said the Fed is keeping rates ‘artificially low’ to help Obama. That’s a lie.

Kai Ryssdal Sep 12, 2016
Drew Angerer and Mark Wilson/Getty Images
HTML EMBED:
COPY

Donald Trump went on CNBC this morning — he’s got a standing invitation to be on this program as well, by the way — and he talked about a lot, including the Federal Reserve. He accused Fed Chair Janet Yellen of keeping rates “artificially low” and creating a “false stock market” to make President Barack Obama look good.

“She’s obviously political and doing what Obama wants her to do, and I know that’s not supposed to be the way it is,” Trump said via phone, adding, “It is a very serious problem … and to a certain extent, I think she should be ashamed of herself.”

Reasonable people disagree about why Janet Yellen and the Fed haven’t raised rates yet.

But the idea that American interest rates — and by extension the entire global economy, if you think about it — are being manipulated as some kind of political favor is without any basis in fact.

It’s a lie.

This post has been updated to reflect the audio.

There’s a lot happening in the world.  Through it all, Marketplace is here for you. 

You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible. 

Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.