The thing I like about Bold Bowman is that she’s no bullshit and calls it like it is when the facts change. She called out Pusillanimous Powell for his inexplicable Premature Pivot, and now she’s calling out Parsimonious Powell for his newfound intransigence. You gotta love the Anti-Gretzky of Fed Chairs: JPOW is master of skating to where the puck WAS…

Musings of the Day, 7/21/25: One key lesson from Trump 1.0 is that he likes to keep folks guessing about his true intentions while maximizing optionality to maneuver. Case in point: A lot of folks are fretting over Trump’s noise over firing Powell, citing his increasingly aggressive rhetoric. In this case, I think the bluster is intentional with little/no intent to back it up. I see very low probability of this outcome, simply because he would be giving away optionality to maneuver — especially during ongoing Tariff negotiations. By vociferously castigating Powell (but not doing anything about it), Trump has set up the perfect Fall Guy if the economy takes a dump for ANY reason. The transition of Pusillanimous Powell to Parsimonious Powell creates a perfect scapegoat that allows him to be aggressive on Tariffs: Heads: the economy slows down, and Powell’s hand is forced anyway. Tails: Powell stays intransigent, and Trump has a free scapegoat option until 2026.

Musings of the Day, 7/21/25: One key lesson from Trump 1.0 is that he likes to keep folks guessing about his true intentions while maximizing optionality to maneuver. Case in point: A lot of folks are fretting over Trump’s noise over firing Powell, citing his increasingly aggressive rhetoric. In this case, I think the bluster is intentional with little/no intent to back it up. I see very low probability of this outcome, simply because he would be giving away optionality to maneuver — especially during ongoing Tariff negotiations. By vociferously castigating Powell (but not doing anything about it), Trump has set up the perfect Fall Guy if the economy takes a dump for ANY reason. The transition of Pusillanimous Powell to Parsimonious Powell creates a perfect scapegoat that allows him to be aggressive on Tariffs: Heads: the economy slows down, and Powell’s hand is forced anyway. Tails: Powell stays intransigent, and Trump has a free scapegoat option until 2026.