Blog Roll: The US Federal Reserve

 

Jan 30, 2026 Trump Nominates Kevin M. Warsh to become the next Fed Chair and Paul Krugman thinks Warsh isn't qualified.

There are currently bills before the US Congress and Chapter 24 in Project 2025 (the Conservative Manifesto) calling for the US Federal Reserve to be abolished. Google AI Reports:

The following reasons are given:

These arguments can be debated. However, what interests me is the argument for more Federal Reserve Transparency and Automation and I have been posting on that topic:

• Trump vs. The Federal Reserve President Trump (and a lot of other politicians) want lower interest rates to stimulate investment. The Fed has been keeping interest rates above the Attractor path given Trump's erratic economic policies. And, there are lots of problems the Fed is facing in setting interest rates too low.
• What Impact is the Fed Having on the Dual Mandate? Some politicians argue the Fed has too much power but the data shows that Fed policy manipulations don't have major effects.
• Could the Fed be replaced by a Computer Program? No, but more automation, communication, public input and transparency would help (and could be a model for other Federal Agency reform).
• Four Regimes for Fed OS 1.0 The main problem with totally automating the Federal Reserve is what to do during Economic Crises. In addition to Business as Usual (BAU), three crises regimes can be identified statistically where human judgment is needed.
• Why does the Fed no longer try to control the Money Supply? It was found to be a weak policy variable and this post provides the data and a model.
• Project 2025 and the Federal Reserve An unbalanced collection of Wack-a-Doodle proposals from the far Right Wing.

Over time, I will have a lot more to say about Federal Reserve and automation of other Federal Government agencies. Given the dismal performance of the Trump II administration and the mistake of Big Tech for support of Right-Wing Agendas, it is time to start thinking out of the box!

Blog Roll: The United States

 

The United States is facing a large number of problems right now. And, it does not appear that the Trump II Administration policies are addressed to solving any of them. Here are the problems and their interconnections as reported by ChatGPT: 

Briefly, the Political System (top of the graphic) has created economic, social, technological and geopolitical pressures that have led to declining state capacity. The arrows show reinforcing causal links that make the problems difficult to address.

A Blog Roll of my postings on the  US economy mostly using the USL20 model follows:

• Alternate Futures for the US The current administration (Trump II) envisions a Business-As-Usual future of unlimited, unstable exponential growth. A more realistic Geopolitical model would link the US to the World System.
• US CO2 Emission Reductions Unlikely  The Trump II has done everything they can to disable Climate Policy and my forecasts are for CO2 emissions to stabilize at current levels (rather than be reduced) well past 2040.
• Why is Hardship Increasing in the US? Again, Business-as-usual (BAU) Policies of the Trump II do nothing to reduce hardship in the US.
• Geopolitical Linkages to Canada and Mexico. The Trump II administrations threatening policies toward North and South American countries are not facilitating a stable Geopolitical Environment. It would be better if North and South American countries found ways to link to the World System and benefit each other. US Hegemonic Leadership is not producing stability.
• US Inflation By Administration. The long-range attractor path predicts low levels of inflation for the US.
• US Unemployment. The attractor path for unemployment is expected to stabilize at around 9%, much higher than FED 2% targets.
• Alternate Forecasts for US CG Debt Debt is not out of control but that doesn't mean it won't keep increasing for a long time.
• Is the US in a Debt Crisis? The US has been in a Debt Crisis since 2010 (Debt significantly above the Attractor Path) but the future forecast is for peak-and-decline.

For the ULS203 Model, the primary state variables are:

US1 = (Overall Growth-Exports-Banks-CPU), US2 = Financial Markets (P.US.TBILL + P.CPAPER.  + P.FED.FUNDS. - Globalization), US3 = (L.US.U + GDP.X. +P.S.P.DPR + P.S. P.EPR. + P.FUELS. + Globalization - Q.H.Starts.) where  + P.S.P.DPR + P.S. P.EPR.= corporate performance. 

The ULS203 Model is nonlinear and unstable but only has one eigenvalue > 1.0-- it is essentially a moving average model. The USL20W Model (World Model) is also a moving average model but is linear and can be stabilized.

Blog Roll: Brazil

 

Jan 5, 2026. After the Invasion of Venezuela by the Trump Administration, Brazil lined up as one of the Latin American countries that condemned the attack (here). It was also one of the Latin American countries hit hard by Trump Tariffs.

Coffee is a good example (graphic above from Trading Economics). In 2025, Trump imposed tariffs on Brazilian coffee and prices in the super market begin to rise and Trump's approval ratings begin to decline. One November 20, 2025, Reuters reports (here) that Trump lifted the tariffs. Trump had been arguing that even though tariffs were taxes, they would be paid by the importers. That turned out not to be true (something Trump could have learned in ECON 101).

Here is a Blog Roll of my other postings on Brazil:

• Seven Futures for Brazil Alignment with the US or the other Latin American Countries (LAC) is best.

Boiler Plate

Boiler Plate is provided with each of the blogs describing State Space models, data sources and how the models are created. For example: here.

Are Carbon Markets Back from the Dead?

 It was reported in the New York Times here that the Biden administration had been issuing new guidelines for carbon offsets and carbon markets. If you have been following Free Market ideas about  how to control Climate Change you might have concluded that Carbon Markets were exposed as Greenwashing designed in the marketing departments of Big Businesses. But, the proposals are back again from the dead, being pushed by the Biden administration in an election year.  What gives? And, will these ideas be supported by the Trump Administration (HINT: only if they make money again for Big Business)?

Blog Roll: Russia

 

Dec 29, 2025. Russia Threatens to Toughen Its Stance on Ending the War in Ukraine In a somewhat bizarre sequence of events, the US President (Donald Trump) had a phone call with the Russian President (Vladimir Putin), had a meeting with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zalenskyy, and then had another call with Vladimir Putin. Without getting into the weird timing and details of these events (Was Trump getting Instructions from Putin? Was Putin looking for a pretext to continue fighting, etc. etc.), it seems that the peace process is in a "stalling mode" and the battlefield has settled into a stalemate. Why is this?

My state space statistical model of the Russian economy is also very unusual compared to other countries in the World-System. The RUL20 model is unstable and highly cyclical, forecast to peak again around 2050 and then collapse (again) after that. In other words, if Ukraine can hold out until 2050, the Russian Empire would collapse again as a results of it's own internal dynamics. But, 25 years is a long time.

Another interesting aspect of the RUL20 model is that the best Geopolitical Alignment for Russia would be for the country to join the European Union (!). Again, maybe the passing of a quarter century would be necessary for that to happen.

Here is a Blog Roll of my postings on Russia:

• Five Futures for Russia Joining the EU provides the best future for Russia!
• Geopolitical Futures for Ukraine Alignment with Russia is positive if cyclical but the best model is Business-As-Usual (no Geopolitical Alignment).
• A New Axis of Evil? Geopolitical alignment of Russia, India and China do not produce attractive model forecasts for any of the countries.
• Futures of Syria Geopolitical Alignment with Russia is OK, but Business-as-usual (no Geopolitical Alignment) is best.
• Hegemonic Dominance Forecasts for the World System  In terms of unending, uncontrolled exponential growth, alignment with Russia would be best but the environmental consequences would be quite negative.
• Futures for China Alignment with Russia would produced uncontrolled, unending exponential growth that would have negative environmental consequences.
• US Attempts to Dominate India Geopolitical Alignment with Russia  would produce a strongly cyclical future for India with large growth and collapse cycles.
• Seven Futures For Iran Geopolitical alignment with Russia would produce collapse.
• Futures for the World System Dominance by Russia would produce strong cycles of growth and collapse.
• Futures for Argentina Alignment with Russia produces unending, uncontrolled exponential growth and an environmental nightmare.
• Latin American Forecasts Alignment with Russia would produce immediate collapse.
• Forecasts for Columbia Alignment with Russia would produce wild cycles of growth and collapse.
• Futures for Germany Alignment with Russia would produces unstable cycles of growth and collapse.

Continuing Imperialist alignments with Russia do not produce attractive outcomes, but unending and uncontrolled exponential growth will be an attractive future for some political-economic elites.

Notes

Wikipedia

Economy of Russia

Shadow Economy of Russia

Economic History of the Russian Federation

Economic History of the Russian Empire

Corruption in Russia

Economy of Ukraine

History of Russia

Russian Empire

Russo-Ukrainian War