Assume that Rip Van Winkle had gone to sleep on the eve of the US election on 4 November 2024 and had woken up on 1 September 2025 and was told that, in the US, developments included:
a) Donald Trump had been talking of firing Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, and asserting that only those who believed that short-term interest rates needed to be a lot lower were qualified to be the next Fed chair. Moreover, he had attempted to take the unprecedented step of firing a board governor.
