Hi, everybody. Welcome to Wednesday. It's 4 o'clock in New York. Today it became clear just how much

every business, big and small, every bank, every institution in the U.S. economy is being held hostage

right now by the whims and delusions of one man.

Of course, we're talking about Donald Trump. The Federal Reserve today opting to hold interest

rates unchanged at its monthly meeting as the impacts of Trump's policies on trade and other

issues make themselves felt. The Fed saying that, quote, uncertainty about the economic outlook

has increased further and that, quote,

the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.

As the New York Times reports, quote,

it is struggling to do both assess the economic fallout

from Mr. Trump's policies and game out how it will set monetary policy

in an environment in which its goals of maintaining a healthy labor market and keeping inflation low and stable may be in conflict.

Quote, officials have grown increasingly worried about how much Trump's policies,

which also includes slashing spending and deporting

immigrants, will sap growth. The irony of this, of course, is that Trump has been demanding

that the Federal Reserve cut interest rates over and over again. At one point, even threatened

to fire the Fed Chair Jerome Powell, something no president before him has ever done.

But Trump's his own problem. It's his own policies, particularly the chaotic on again, off again

nature of his tariffs that are making it impossible for him to get the rate cuts he so desperately seeks.

Businesses lack the clarity they need as well.

As we have reported on this program,

the metrics that show goods and materials moving around the world

...