Good morning. It's Saturday, September 20th, for the first time since December of 2024, last December,

December, the Federal Reserve decided this week to lower interest rates. It was a modest cut.

Interest rates will come down by a quarter of a percentage point, but in announcing

its decision on Wednesday morning, the Fed also signaled it'll likely make up to two more cuts

before the end of the year. The move was widely expected after recent jobs data indicated that the

economy might be weaker than we thought. Hiring is slowed, unemployment rate ticked up

slightly to 4.3% last month.

The Fed's decision was nearly unanimous.

Eleven of the 12 Federal Reserve Board voting members voted in favor of cutting interest rates

by a quarter of a percentage point. If you're wondering who the loan holdout was,

let me introduce you to Stephen Mren, the Fed's newest member who

advocated for a larger half-a-point rate cut. Mirren's elevation to the position is unusual in a few

different ways. For one, he's only been a Fed governor for less than a week. Last month, Donald Trump

nominated him to fill a vacancy on the board after one member resigned before her term was set to expire in January of

26. After a rapid confirmation process, the Senate confirmed Mirren on Monday night by the narrowest of

margins, 48 to 47, largely along party lines. It was sworn in the next morning, shortly before the Federal

Reserve was

scheduled to begin its two-day meeting to discuss lowering interest rates. But what's more

concerning is that Maren isn't just a member, a voting member of the Federal Reserve now.

He also remains a member of the White House staff, a member of the executive branch of government

from which the Fed is supposed to be fully independent. Earlier this year, Trump chose him to be the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors,

but instead of resigning from that role upon being appointed to the Fed,

...