The President of the United States has once again called on the Federal Reserve to significantly lower interest rates. For Dan Tapiero, of DTAP Capital, such a “debasement of the dollar” would benefit Bitcoin and other hard, store-of-value assets.<\/p>\n
Tapiero believes that Trump hopes to drive economic activity by effectively charging customers to hold money in the relative safety of banks or in bonds prior to the 2020 Presidential Election. However, such policies may also encourage more people to look for alternate means to store their wealth.<\/p>\n
When growth slows in an economy, an increasingly popular method used by central banks to encourage fresh spending is to cut interest rates. Typically, banks make interest payments to those storing cash with them. A high interest rate will encourage saving and a low one should encourage spending and borrowing, driving new economic growth.<\/p>\n
Negative interest rates were first used in the aftermath of the 2008 economic crisis in Europe. In 2014, the European Central Bank<\/a> cut interest rates below zero for the first time. The move was a response to low inflation and a severe debt crisis. Since then, other central banks, including that of Denmark, Switzerland<\/a>, and Japan have all introduced negative rates.<\/p>\n Most economists predicted that Donald Trump would want lower interest rates going into the 2020 Presidential Election. However, he has today tweeted<\/a> encouragement for the Federal Reserve to lower rates to below zero:<\/p>\n The Federal Reserve should get our interest rates down to ZERO, or less, and we should then start to refinance our debt. INTEREST COST COULD BE BROUGHT WAY DOWN, while at the same time substantially lengthening the term. We have the great currency, power, and balance sheet…..<\/p>\n — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 11, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n