When Vladimir Putin became the first Russian leader to visit Australia– for the 2007 APEC summit in Sydney– I had a chance to ask him what he thought of Australia. Putin has probably not thought of Australia much since, apart from the fuss we made over Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine shooting down Malaysian Airlines MH17 in 2014, and his visit to Brisbane in 2014…
Royce White's campaign to win back DFL U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar's Fifth Congressional District for the GOP for the first time in more than half a century began Tuesday standing alone in the biting cold of a snowstorm outside the Minneapolis Federal Reserve. Now, after becoming a regular guest on ex- Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon's online shows, White is waging what…
State and local governments lost at least $117 billion of expected revenue early in the pandemic, according to an Associated Press analysis, but many are now awash in record amounts of money, boosted partly by federal aid. "The ultimate effect of the pandemic was a net positive," said Stephen Parker, assistant city manager for the Los Angeles suburb of Upland, where…

US Fed Governor Opens Door To Half-Point Rate Hike In March
The Fed is looking to raise rates as inflation surged to 7.5% in January compared with a year earlier, the biggest increase in four decades. James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, has expressed support for a half-point hike sometime at the Fed’s next three meetings.

Federal Reserve Officials Push Back On Rapid Interest Rate Hikes
With inflation at its hottest level in two generations, the Fed is widely expected to seek to cool the economy by raising its benchmark short-term interest rate from its record low of nearly zero, where it’s been throughout the pandemic.
Federal Reserve policymakers concluded last month that they would accelerate their tightening of credit if inflation failed to slow in the coming months. The minutes underscore the urgency that the Fed under Chair Jerome Powell feels about reining in a sharp spike of inflation, which has persisted longer and broadened to more industries than the…
—Federal Reserve policymakers concluded last month that they would accelerate their tightening of credit if inflation failed to slow in the coming months. The minutes underscore the urgency that the Fed under Chair Jerome Powell feels about reining in a sharp spike of inflation, which has persisted longer and broadened to more industries than the…

Raising Interest Rates To Curb Inflation: What Could Go Wrong?
It’s part of the mandated job of the U.S. Federal Reserve to prevent inflation from getting out of hand – and lowering it back to its preferred pace of about 2%. To do that, the Fed has signaled it plans to raise interest rates several times this year.