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Trump demanded that Republicans shut down the government unless the continuing resolution contained a measure requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, and the measure was widely seen as an attempt to suppress voting. Trump was unable to command Republican loyalty on this issue as he did earlier this year when he insisted Republicans kill the bipartisan border bill.

That recognition of his slipping power might have been behind his hastily announced press conference this afternoon at Trump Tower in New York, a press conference best described as the September 10 presidential debate 2.0.

Trump reiterated his vision of the United States as a hellscape. He insisted that the nation’s booming economy is actually hemorrhaging jobs, that the FBI statistics showing crime falling are all lies, and that inflation, which has fallen close enough to the target of 2% that the Fed recently began to lower interest rates, is at an all-time high.

Trump reserved his greatest rage for the ABC debate moderators who, he complained, fact-checked him after agreeing not to—“I want an apology,” he said—and for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. To her he attributed what he insists is a flood of undocumented immigrants drowning states in a welter of crime, although we know immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than native born Americans. He recounted in some detail a number of horrific rapes he claimed were committed by immigrants. He did so apparently with no self-consciousness about his own liability for sexual assault that the presiding judge said would commonly be understood as rape, although his focus on rape could have been an attempt to push back on the the recent spate of ads by conservative lawyer George Conway’s Anti-Psychopath PAC featuring woman who claim Trump sexually assaulted them.

Are these signs of obvious desperation the beginning of the end for trump?

The Federal Reserve slashed rates on Wednesday for the first time since early 2020, the clearest signal yet that central bankers believe they are winning their years long battle against rapid inflation.

Fed officials slashed borrowing costs by half a percentage point, an unusually large reduction. The decision lowers rates to about 4.9 percent, down from a more than two-decade high.

The Fed’s move comes in response to months of fading inflation, and it is meant to prevent the economy from slowing so much that the job market begins to crack. Officials have been keeping a cautious eye on a recent rise in the unemployment rate, and by starting off with a big cut, the Fed is effectively taking out insurance against a bigger employment slowdown.

Reinforcing that wary message, the move came alongside economic projections that suggested a more aggressive pace of rate cuts than central bankers had previously predicted: Officials now expect to make another half point of reductions before the end of the year.

“The Committee has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent, and judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” Fed officials said in their statement.

High interest rates slow the economy by making it more expensive to borrow to buy a house or expand business, which weighs on both demand and inflation — but also on hiring. The Fed has been trying to strike a careful balance. Officials have aimed to cool growth enough to ensure that price increases return to normal without cooling it so much that the unemployment rate soars and the economy tips into a recession.

Wednesday’s rate cut marks a preliminary victory. So far, Fed officials have managed to slow inflation notably without causing major economic problems. The unemployment rate has crept up, but it hasn’t jumped painfully. Hiring persists, though it has slowed. Consumer spending remains strong. Overall growth is still robust.

FYI:
It costs more than 3 cents to produce 1 penny.

2/3rds of pennies drop out of circulation into coin jars requiring the constant replacement of these coins that have "disappeared" leading to a spiral where more and more need to be mined every year.

A conservative estimate holds that there are 240 billion pennies lying around the United States.

One out of every two circulating coins minted in the United States has a face value of 1 cent.

$100 worth of pennies weighs about 55 pounds.)

A Federal Reserve survey found that Americans paid with cash just 18 percent of the time.

Because a portion of America’s children will, inevitably, swallow coins, by law all coins are required to be detectable by X-ray.

Coinstar machines have processed over one trillion coins of various denominations, worth about $67 billion dollars.

Coinstar is practically the sole medium by which pennies migrate around the USA.

Pennies occupy disproportionate space; at 50% of a jar, they contribute only about 6% of its value.

Theodore Roosevelt began replacing coins he considered "ugly, artistically of atrocious hideousness,” with designs he liked more. He put Lincoln on the penny because he felt like it & consulted no one about his decision.

The Secretary of the US Treasury could stop producing pennies today; no legislation is needed.

Canada eliminated its 1-cent coin in 2013 but ONLY its physical coin, not the mathematical concept of 1 cent. Payment by any kind of noncash transaction is STILL calculated exactly as it was before the penny was abolished.

The final digit of Canadian cash transactions is rounded to the nearest nickel: 1 and 2, nearest to 0 nickels, round down to 0; 3 and 4 round up to a nickel — 5; 6 and 7, also nearest to one nickel, round down — 5 again; 8 and 9, nearest to 10 cents, round up.