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Bernanke: Fed's slow response to inflation was 'mistake'

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank made a “mistake” by responding too slowly to surging inflation. 

In a Monday interview with CNBC, Bernanke said the Fed should have started the process of hiking interest rates sooner than it did as inflation began to rise last year and the Biden administration pumped another $1.9 trillion in stimulus into the economy.

“In retrospect, yes, it was a mistake, and I think they agree it was a mistake,” Bernanke said in an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“There were a couple of issues I think that are related primarily to the pandemic itself and the way that it’s scrambled the usual indicators that made it harder for the Fed to read the economy,” he continued.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell and bank officials are racing to raise interest rates high enough to curb inflation, which reached an annual rate of 8.3 percent in April, without slowing the economy into a recession. A growing number of economists fear the Fed waiting too long to raise interest rates after slashing them to near-zero levels in March 2020 and buying trillions of dollars in bonds to keep credit markets flowing.

Bernanke, who chaired the Fed from 2006 to 2014, said the central bank made two main mistakes in responding to the surge of inflation: being too slow to pivot toward hikes out of concerns of spooking markets, and assuming pandemic-related supply shortages and hiring troubles would pass several months ago.

“The Fed believed in the middle of 2021 that these factors would likely solve themselves over time—that, in other words, that the supply shocks were called transitory and so…they didn’t need to respond to the early stages of inflation because it was going to go away by itself. That proved wrong.”

Powell and top Fed officials have acknowledged they waited too long for the factory shutdowns, bottlenecks, shipping delays, shortages, and lack of large improvement in labor force participation—all of which are related to the pandemic and driving prices higher—to ease before hiking interest rates. The Fed also sought to avoid several mistakes made during Bernanke’s tenure, including failing to cut interest rates in advance of the 2007-08 recession and causing financial market dysfunction when pulling back bond purchases abruptly in 2013.

“Jay Powell was on [the Fed] board during the taper tantrum in 2013, which was a very unpleasant experience. He wanted to avoid that kind of thing by giving people as much warning as possible. And so that gradualism was one of several reasons why the Fed didn’t respond more quickly to the inflationary pressure in the middle of 2021,” Bernanke said.

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Fox president defends Rudy Giuliani casting on 'The Masked Singer': 'Absolutely no regrets'

A top Fox programming official on Monday said he has “absolutely no regrets” that former President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani made a guest appearance on the hit show “The Masked Singer” last month.

During a conference call, Rob Wade, Fox’s president of alternative entertainment and specials, defended the decision to bring on the former New York City mayor and leading proponent of Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 election.

“Yeah, absolutely no regrets,” Wade said, according to NBC News. “The marketing is all about delivering jaw dropping moments, which is exactly what the casting accomplished.”

“The Masked Singer” pits mystery contestants in costumes against each other in a singing competition, with the best performer moving on until a final winner is selected. Losing contestants are unveiled, with the judges guessing their identity based on clues.

Giuliani appeared on an episode that aired on April 20 dressed in a jack-in-the box costume and singing “Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

His identity was unveiled following his elimination from the show. His appearance led to judge Ken Jeong — who had guessed he was Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — walking off the stage.

“I’m done,” Jeong said.

Rumors that Giuliani was a contestant began circulating back in February.

On Monday’s conference call, Wade said his “only regret” was that the media had leaked Giuliani’s identity before the reveal, according to NBC News.

“Kudos to you guys,” he said. “Just please don’t do it again. Thanks a lot.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Manager says suspect was asked to leave Buffalo supermarket one day before shooting

A manager at the Buffalo, N.Y., Tops supermarket that was the target of Saturday’s mass shooting said he asked Payton Gendron, the suspect, to leave the location the day before. 

Tops’ operations manager Shonnell Harris Teague told ABC News on Monday that she spotted the 18-year-old sitting on a bench outside of the supermarket for more than an hour on Friday, dressed in the same camouflage outfit he had on during the incident. 

Teague said that she asked Gendron to leave due to complaints from regular shoppers, adding that he did leave without no incident. 

The next day, during the shooting, which left 10 dead, Teague told ABC News that she escaped out of the back door of the supermarket when she saw Gendron again, calling the scenario a “nightmare.” 

“I see him with his gear on and his gun and how it was all strapped on. … I seen all the other bodies on the ground. … It was just a nightmare,” she said. 

Authorities recently said that will investigate the Buffalo shooting as a hate crime, noting that Gendron targeted Black customers and employees at the supermarket.

Gendron, a resident of Conklin, N.Y., has so far been charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the mass shooting Saturday night.

The attack raises questions and concerns about racially motivated domestic terrorist attacks in the U.S. 

Buffalo Police Department (BPD) commissioner Joeseph Gramaglia said that Gendron would’ve continued on with his rampage if he hadn’t been stopped, ABC News noted. 

“We have uncovered information that if he escaped the [Tops] supermarket, he had plans to continue his attack,” Gramaglia said. “He had plans to continue driving down Jefferson Ave. to shoot more Black people … possibly go to another store [or] location.”

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Oz leading Barnette, McCormick in tight Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary: poll

Celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz holds a narrow lead in Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary just before Election Day, according to a new Emerson College poll. 

Oz has the support of 28 percent of very likely GOP primary voters, while conservative commentator Kathy Barnette comes in second with 24 percent and former hedge fund manager Dave McCormick gets 21 percent. Primary voters head to the polls on Tuesday. 

When undecided voters who lean toward a certain candidate are incorporated, Oz leads with 32 percent, trailed by Barnette at 27 percent and McCormick with 26 percent. 

Oz holds lead among voters older than 50, urban voters and female voters. Barnette, meanwhile, does better with younger and more rural likely GOP primary voters. McCormick’s strength lies with male and suburban voters. 

Still, 48 percent of very likely primary voters have a somewhat or strongly unfavorable opinion of Oz, while 32 percent have an unfavorable opinion of McCormick and 28 percent have an unfavorable view of Barnette. 

McCormick’s favorability rating is the highest, sitting at 46 percent, followed by Barnette at 43 percent and 37 percent for Oz. 

The Emerson College poll also showed the race remains somewhat in flux, with 15 percent of likely voters saying they’re undecided. 

The survey comes after polls showed Barnette surging from the middle of the primary field to the top tier, in some instances even running neck and neck with Oz and McCormick, whose spending from their personal war chests has dwarfed her own. 

Barnette’s surprising rise comes after a poll last month from The Hill-Emerson College showed Oz and McCormick in the running for first place, with Barnette at a distant third.

Her last-minute surge has halted brutal attacks between Oz and McCormick, who swiftly redirected fire at the conservative commentator instead, highlighting past statements that were Islamophobic and homophobic, raising questions over her biography and underscoring a congressional bid in 2020 that she lost by about 20 points. 

Former President Trump, who has endorsed and rallied with Oz in a big boost to the cardiothoracic surgeon, released a statement last week saying that Barnette is unelectable in November. 

Barnette’s camp has hit back, casting the attacks as misleading. She is being boosted by a late surge in spending by groups like the anti-tax Club for Growth. 

“The ads are distortions and very vitriolic,” Barnette campaign manager Bob Gillies told The Hill last week after attack ads against her. “However, Kathy remains focused, and the campaign will continue to move forward in a positive fashion.”  

The Emerson College poll surveyed 1,000 very likely Pennsylvania GOP primary voters from May 14-15 and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points. 

Source: TEST FEED1

It’s time for a dedicated federal anti-fraud office

If you weren’t aware that fraud and improper payments have become an urgent crisis in government programs, then you haven’t been paying attention. Improper payments during FY 2021 were estimated to be about $281 billion — a $75 billion increase from FY 2020 and more than double the amount reported in FY 2017. And while the pandemic created the opportunity for the most fraud in our nation’s history, this problem will not end with the pandemic. It’s time for Congress to create a new strategy to curb this perennial issue and create a dedicated federal anti-fraud office.

The current approach to the prevention of fraud and improper payments is simply not working, and it has certainly raised alarm bells on Capitol Hill. I recently testified before the House Subcommittee on Government Operations on how the government can do more to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud and improper payments.

Today, fraud actors have at their disposal massive amounts of personal information on nearly every American. Coupled with sophisticated technological tools, this makes committing fraud far easier than it’s ever been.

The nearly $5 trillion in government relief spending during the COVID-19 pandemic — much of which was disbursed as direct payments to citizens — created the perfect storm for fraud. A combination of inadequate oversight and internal controls, large-scale organized fraud rings, and antiquated data and information systems contributed to the massive, widespread fraud we saw during the pandemic. A centralized approach to countering these trends is needed to coordinate efforts across agencies, increase collaboration and data sharing, and institute proactive, preventative measures to federal anti-fraud efforts.

A dedicated federal anti-fraud office could devote the time and resources to enhance data collection, data sharing, and data analytics capabilities across federal agencies. The U.S. Treasury’s Do Not Pay initiative — a central mechanism for providing data matching and data analytics services to support improper payment prevention and detection — could be enriched with third-party datasets. In the age of the data breach, addressing the urgent need of program managers to access and share data to root out fraud and improper payments is paramount.

The government severely lags the private sector in the use of technology to identify and prevent fraud. During the pandemic, fraud actors saw an enormous opportunity to exploit this weakness. State and federal agencies were and are vulnerable to fraud because they lack the tools necessary to detect fraud patterns. One example: a cyber intelligence research firm identified 259 variations of a single email address used by a crime ring to create accounts on state and federal websites with the intent to carry out fraud.

Government agencies must begin to catch up with the technology used by sophisticated fraud actors. A dedicated federal anti-fraud office could serve as the focal point for identifying emerging technology, establishing guidance, and providing technical assistance to help agencies adopt new technology and techniques.

Of course, while deliberating which anti-fraud tools to deploy, concerns about access and equity must be considered. Government must ensure legitimate beneficiaries are not unnecessarily hampered in accessing much-needed benefits. Today there are many automated, data-driven tools that can authenticate a user and verify identity and eligibility in near real time with little to no impact on the applicant.

It is vital to take a more targeted, risk-based approach to fraud and improper payment prevention and it must begin with Congress. Too many programs are currently required to comply with ineffective statutory requirements, which they undertake to simply check-the-box, wasting valuable time and resources that could be better spent on data- and outcome-oriented efforts.

It’s time for Congress to pivot from the well-intentioned but marginally effective and burdensome improper payment framework created over the last twenty years and toward a more pragmatic approach that emphasizes data and outcomes.
This new approach must also move away from the current siloed approach that focuses on fraud agency by agency. Instead, an all-of-government strategy should be created and run through a well-funded, centralized office. A dedicated anti-fraud office would have the necessary focus to work solely on addressing the data, accountability, and technology challenges facing agencies at every level of government.

The erosion of citizen trust in government is warranted when our leaders place so little priority on safeguarding the integrity of taxpayer dollars. It is time to rewrite the playbook for how to manage the risk of fraud and improper payments in the government. A dedicated federal anti-fraud office with requisite authority and resources is needed to devote the necessary attention to this enormous and growing problem. The time for Congress to act is now.

Linda Miller is a Principal at Grant Thornton, LLP, where she leads the firm’s Fraud & Financial Crimes Practice. She was formerly an Assistant Director in the Forensic Audits and Investigative Service group at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Deputy Executive Director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.

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Trump backing Cawthorn despite lawmaker's 'foolish mistakes'

Former President Trump is doubling down on his support for embattled Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) ahead of a Tuesday primary contest that will determine whether the 26-year-old congressman will get a chance at a second term in the House.

“When Madison was first elected to Congress, he did a great job,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, the social media platform that he founded last year. “Recently, he made some foolish mistakes, which I don’t believe he’ll make again…let’s give Madison a second chance!”

Trump endorsed Cawthorn for reelection last year. But his latest show of support comes as Cawthorn is facing a fight for political life following a series of controversies that have fueled GOP criticism of the first-term congressman. 

Several Republicans jumped into the primary in Cawthorn’s district after he decided to run in another district closer to Charlotte following the redistricting process. He returned to his old district, however, after state courts struck down North Carolina’s new House map. 

Since then, things have gotten more complicated for him. Cawthorn enraged many of his fellow Republicans earlier this year when he suggested in a podcast interview that fellow GOP lawmakers were participating in orgies and doing cocaine. He’s also suffered from a series of salacious revelations, including a leaked nude video.

Trump’s late effort to remind voters of his support for the far-right congressman, however, could give Cawthorn a boost and help him avoid a lackluster performance on Tuesday.

He will need to win at least 30 percent of the vote to advance to the general election as the Republican nominee in North Carolina’s 11th District. 

Still, Cawthorn is facing opposition from several high-profile North Carolina Republicans. The top Republicans in the state General Assembly have endorsed one of his rivals, state Sen. Chuck Edwards, as has Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). 

Meanwhile, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who’s retiring at the end of his current term, has criticized Cawthorn, calling him an “embarrassment” during a March appearance on CNN.

Source: TEST FEED1

We need a reset with the midterms — and then Biden’s impeachment

The upcoming midterm elections could represent the most complex political calculus in history. The question is whether a potential Republican majority in the House and Senate, combined with a bloc of pragmatic Democratic senators, might decide to impeach President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Doing so could be the one key to reducing the polarization of American politics and salvaging American civil society.

Joe Biden has set the stage for his demise. The American economy is in a death spiral. Inflation is skyrocketing, and most of the voting public understands that the disaster is because of Biden’s policies. His lame attempts to blame everyone but himself (“conspiracies” among energy companies, auto companies, food companies, irrational consumers, etc.) are falling on deaf ears. The polls are clear: the majority of voters feel Biden is mishandling the economy. His tone-deaf message that more government spending will heal the problem is not resonating with voters. 

Pension plans — yes, those plans that provide pensions for teachers, firefighters, police, other public employees, union members and all other private sector workers — are in serious jeopardy. IRA and 401(k) savings are collapsing. Inflation is eating up the incomes and wage gains of all middle-class and low-income workers. The Fed’s rising interest rates will crush the market and further raise the net cost of financing business, houses, cars, etc.

Biden’s energy policies have been a disaster. Every American, every day, sees the results of his policies when they fill up their cars with gas or pay their utility bills. Prices have skyrocketed under Biden and some Americans may be forced to travel less, live more in the dark, have colder homes in the winter and hotter homes in the summer, and suffer more regular blackouts. Biden’s progressive utopia: The New and Primitive Dark Ages.

Additionally, Biden’s Transportation and Treasury leadership have been abject failures at stemming supply chain problems, trade issues, and economic collapse.

Many Black and Hispanic American citizens reportedly are leaving the Democratic Party as they realize that Biden’s illegal and criminal open-border policies have led to millions of illegal immigrants flooding the country, taking away lower-wage jobs and diluting the voting power of minorities. American citizens also realize that these policies are bringing in criminals with illegal drugs, spiking urban crime and drug-related deaths.

The Biden administration’s COVID policies and lockdowns were abject failures and led to accelerated deaths, mental illness, and economic contraction.  

Biden’s notion that teachers “own” America’s children, and have as much or more rights than parents in teaching children values and beliefs, is straight from the communist playbook. The Justice Department’s reported branding of upset American parents as “domestic terrorists,” if true, is beyond appalling.

And Biden’s fully incompetent, politically motivated defense and foreign policies and leadership have invited aggression and adventurism by our enemies — which will only get worse.

Most importantly, Biden’s politics and rhetoric, and his weaponization of the Justice Department against ordinary Americans, has been unprecedented in its divisiveness, corrosive to American civil society. His overt support for progressive street riots, burning cities, and physical intimidation of his opponents represents a new low in American democracy.

Biden and Harris need to go now, and the 2022 elections provide a unique opportunity for a desperately needed reset.

Without such a reset, the future is clear. Donald Trump almost assuredly will return as president. Americans will choose the devil they know, rather than the devil they no longer can stand. It is time for aggressive, “radical moderation,” and the first step is for the next House and Senate to impeach, convict and remove Biden and Harris.

How would that work?

If Republicans take control of the House, they can move quickly on Articles of Impeachment. The Biden administration has been breaking the law to a level that dramatically exceeds the threshold of “high crimes.” The immigration policies alone qualify for summary judgment. The weaponization of the Justice Department follows close behind. Various Republican groups are assembling a list of investigations into rampant law-breaking by the Biden administration. 

Harris, with her portfolio covering illegal immigration and her overt support for urban violence, is an equally guilty target.

Of course, the indication on Hunter Biden’s laptop that Joe Biden likely was involved in potential criminal activity involving payoffs from foreign enemies could become additional evidence of high crimes.

The Senate should convict and remove Biden and Harris before the end of January 2023. The House Speaker would then succeed Biden — most Americans would agree that anyone would be a vast improvement — and, in the spirit of national reconciliation, a hard-as-nails moderate Democrat should be chosen as vice president. Two obvious candidates would be Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) or Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), with Manchin getting the nod because he’d be one-term.

Moderate Democratic senators should leap at this opportunity. If they don’t, they almost certainly will get Trump in 2024, along with another red wave in the House and Senate.

Such a reset would pay huge dividends for America and both political parties. It would reverse Biden’s destructive economic and energy policies and stop his and Harris’s divisive rhetoric. It would lead to open, competitive presidential primaries for both parties, and provide some hope for stopping the next Trump train wreck. It would moderate and, perhaps, return some civility to American politics. It would save America.

Grady Means is a writer (GradyMeans.com) and former corporate strategy consultant. He served in the White House as a policy assistant to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. Follow him on Twitter @gradymeans1.

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Uber adds electric vehicle options in update

Uber announced Monday that ride-share customers in some California cities will be able to summon rides in “premium” electric vehicles (EV) like Teslas and Polestars.

The new feature — which rolls out this week in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego as well as Dubai — is part of a push by the ride-hailing giant to expand its electric offerings as it seeks to ensure that its U.S.- and Europe-based fleets will have zero emissions by 2030.

Uber vice president of product Sachin Kansal said the feature is part of a broader suite of upgrades to the company’s driver platform to “provide drivers with the insights they need to go electric.”

“We’ve set a high bar for ourselves to become the cleanest mobility platform on earth – and enlisting drivers to join in the effort is a crucial step,” Kansal said in a statement.

The company is launching the feature at the beginning of what Expedia has predicted will be the busiest travel summer on record.

The update will include new maps of EV charging stations — complete with speed and type of charger — which will be integrated this summer into driver tools alongside other services, like gas stations and restrooms.

Uber’s driver platform will also incorporate a “one-stop shop” of information on how to “save money by going electric,” according to Uber. 

These include a tool that allows drivers to make side-by-side comparisons of the lifetime costs of specific gas and electric cars, as well as links to local tax incentives.

A version of the software reviewed by The Hill included information on cost-saving programs for turning in old vehicles, incentives for buying chargers, and state incentives for purchasing electric cars, like the California Clean Vehicle Rebate Program.

The features build on an existing push by Uber to lower the emissions of its fleet. Drivers in many cities can already order low-emission “Green” rides, which can be filled by either hybrid or EV drivers. 

Last year, Uber signed a deal with rental company Hertz to make 50,000 Tesla Model 3s available to drivers with a rating of above 4.85 stars and more than 100 trips.

The company has also earmarked $800 million to help drivers go electric, much of which goes to a bonus program that offers EV drivers an additional $1 per ride — and which can earn them up to $4,000 a year under the company’s Green Future program. 

The company also offers discounts on EV charging, as well as discounts for home chargers and — in California — rooftop solar.

Source: TEST FEED1

Black Caucus chair on Buffalo shooting: 'Thoughts and prayers are not enough'

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) on Monday called for Congress to take action in the wake of the fatal shooting of 10 people in Buffalo, N.Y., over the weekend, saying that “thoughts and prayers are not enough.”

“I am horrified to see another devastating act of hateful gun violence in America. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the thirteen innocent people who lost their lives due to this tragic hate crime,” Beatty said in a statement on Monday.

“This story is not new; we’ve seen this play out repeatedly. But we are very clear, thoughts and prayers are not enough,” she added.

A gunman opened fire at Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo on Saturday, killing 10 people and wounding three more. Eleven of the victims were Black and police said the shooter intentionally targeted Black people.

Authorities are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

Beatty is calling on Congress to take a series of steps, including urging the Senate to abolish the filibuster and pass House-approved gun control legislation.

“There must be accountability for hate, there must be criminal justice reform, and there must be common-sense gun reform. That is why Democrats in the House passed sweeping legislation to address these glaring issues,” Beatty wrote.

“The Senate must abolish the Jim Crow era filibuster and pass the legislation that will save the lives of innocent Americans. We owe it to the victims, their families, and all Americans to take action,” she added.

The House last March passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act and the Enhanced Background Checks Act, which sought to bolster background checks on firearm sales and transfers. Both bills have languished in the Senate due to GOP opposition.

Beatty is pushing for the 60-vote legislative hurdle to be nixed in the upper chamber, but two Senate Democrats — Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) — have been opposed to changing Senate rules in the past.

Beatty on Monday also said harmful actions that are driven by racial animus and white supremacy should be considered hate crimes.

“Vigilantes acting with racial animus and espousing white supremacist ideology that results in the loss of innocent lives must be classified as a hate crime, full stop,” Beatty said.

“Last year, more than twenty thousand Americans lost their lives to gun violence. In the aftermath of this horrific episode, Congress has a moral obligation to make our nation fairer and safer for all Americans,” she added.

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