January 26, 2022
Supreme Court Justice Breyer is expected to retire.
Now – before I tell you about Justice Stephen Breyer, let me tell you – his retirement isn’t going to change the ideological balance of the high court.
Why – because the current balance of the court is six conservatives and three liberals. When Justice Breyer – a consistent liberal – retires, President Biden – a Democrat is going to replace him with another liberal. President Biden has said he plans to nominate a black woman. So, if confirmed the balance will remain six to three.
But that doesn’t mean getting the new appointee through the Senate confirmation process is going to be easy. Like with every nominee, there will be brutal public Senate hearings of the nominee. But since Democrats narrowly control the Senate, if all of them remain in line, they can get that nominee confirmed.
This process is likely to move quickly. Democrats will want to get through it obviously, before the midterm elections and hopefully before the new Supreme Court term in October of 2022.
Justice Breyer is 83 years old and has served on the high court for more than 27 years. He is expected to finish out this term.
PLUS
Inflation is real. What can we do to get it under control? Today The Fed jumped in and said it’s ready to use one of its most powerful tools – “soon”. And this move will impact all of us.
What’s going on?
I’ve done several videos about inflation and the high cost of everything from groceries to cars.
So what can the fed do to change that?
Today the fed chairman said The Fed will hike interest rates “soon.” Most likely after the next policymaking meeting in march. That would be about two years after the fed slashed interest rates to zero at the start of the pandemic. Experts believe The Fed could raise interest by a quarter percentage point. And The Fed chairman has said he expects several additional rate hikes in 2022. The Fed will also use other policy tools at its disposal to combat inflation.
So what does this mean for you?
Increasing interest rates means increasing the cost of credit throughout the economy. Higher interest rates makes loans more expensive for both businesses and consumers. Including for home loans, car loans, student loans, credit cards, stocks and so forth. Everyone ends up spending more on interest payments. Put simply — this “cools” off the economy because it reduces the supply of money in circulation because lots of consumers don’t want to pay or can’t afford the higher interest payments so they postpone projects or purchases involving financing.
Read the announcement from The Fed here.
Read the other moves The Fed plans to make to tackle inflation here.
Read Chairman Powell’s statement here.
