Fed watch: The Growing Case for Rate Cuts

“President Trump’s tariffs present the Federal Reserve with two conflicting challenges,” observes The Wall Street Journal’s Greg Ip.

Tariffs “raise prices, which weakens the case for cutting interest rates” but also “sap confidence and demand, which strengthens the case.”

The Federal Reserve has primarily been addressing the risk of inflation by maintaining its interest rate target at 4.25% to 4.5% since December. However, there is a growing concern that the focus may need to shift towards another risk: the labor market showing signs of weakening. Recent evidence suggests that inflation has not been as severe as anticipated, even with tariffs in place. This possible shift in focus may prompt the Fed to reassess its current monetary policy strategies.

Unemployment “has risen every month since January, by a quarter percentage point in all.”

A “restrictive stance” on interest rates “make sense so long as inflation is all the Fed has to worry about. It no longer is.”

Eye on NY: Federal Cuts Won’t Gut Health Care

“New York’s health-care industry stands to lose billions of dollars in federal funding” under the GOP federal budget bill, notes the Empire Center’s Bill Hammond, yet that wouldn’t “be enough to “decimate” or “gut” New York’s health care system,” as Gov. Hochul has claimed.

“The House budget would reduce federal health-care aid by $10.1 billion while obliging the state to spend an additional $3.3 billion,” a state Health Department analysis finds — yet federal aid “would still be higher than it was in 2023.”

Cut the state’s Medicaid enrollment by 1.2 million, and New York “would still be providing free coverage to about 36 percent of its population” — still “12 points higher than the national average.”

Republican: Don’t Let Judges Help China Steal Tech

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board is “effectively allowing a Chinese firm to keep stealing an American semiconductor technology,” warns Rep. Nathaniel Moran at The Hill.

The judges on the board “just sided with Innoscience, a Chinese firm” accused of “stealing patented technology and selling knockoff chips” from Cali company Efficient Power Conversion.

“After a 16-month investigation,” the US International Trade Commission “found that Innoscience had indeed stolen the technology.”

Yet Innoscience separately the patent board to invalidate Efficient Power Conversion’s patent.

“The Trump administration has the authority to overrule” the board’s “dangerous decision” and “should do so immediately,” but also “implement broader reforms” to stop “rogue administrative judges from helping Chinese companies pilfer US intellectual property in the future.”

Democrats: San Francisco Shows the Way

“In the most famously liberal city in America, voters are no longer satisfied with symbolism or purity tests — they want results,” cheer Nancy Tung & Eric Kingsbury at Real Clear Politics.

San Francisco voters “still support Democratic principles, but they are demanding leaders who deliver.” In elections since 2022 through the rise of “outsider” Mayor Daniel Lurie, voters are supporting a “New Pragmatism” that’s “reshaping” how the Democratic Party “governs and earns trust.”

In other parts of the country, when “voters asked for outcomes,” the party “gave them process and vibes.”

To win back voters, Dems “need to be practical, not performative.” New Pragmatism is about “solving problems, using power, and being honest about what is broken and what can be fixed.”

If Democrats “want to win again, they should start paying attention” to what voters want.

Media watch: Don’t Follow the Money?

The media can “no longer be trusted to tell anything like the truth,” blasts the Issues & Insights editorial board.

“The FBI is investigating the financial ties behind” the LA riots, but “the mainstream press could care less,” fearing the facts might “implicate Democrats or upset the left’s agenda.”

The Post has reported how the “Party for Socialism and Liberation, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, is said to be behind some of the protests,” but other outlets remain mute.

“If you want to uncover corruption, find out where the money is coming from and where it is going. At least it used to be. Today? Not so much.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board