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Anna is correct below when she says: "I have not seen a meeting with so much contradictions." --- This meeting was a mess. See the labels in the dot plot below. One member of the FOMC thinks the Fed is going to HIKE rates this year. One (Stephen Miran) thinks it is going to cut 1.25% this year (5 cuts over two meetings). And see the spread of dots above (from highest to lowest), the FOMC is showing little to no agreement on what they should do. Yet it was an 11-1 vote. This rigging of the voting to create the illusion of a "consensus" and then publishing a wide dot plot like this only serves to undermine their credibility even further. Add to this is Powell using the term "Risk Management" to describe this cut. If this is the case now, then the Fed cannot also be data dependent. Both cannot be true at the same time. So, how are they making these “Risk Management” policy decisions? I fear that a "Risk Management" cut is a political decision. He wants to get Trump off his back. Has the Fed voluntarily given up its independence? Trump is not doing it to the Fed; they are doing it to themselves.