Wonkbook: Why Donald Trump's real positions are so mysterious, yet so effective

By Matt O'Brien Schrödinger's cat might be one of Donald Trump's top advisers. His policy positions, such as they are, seem to be simultaneously dead and alive. Although in this case, whether they really do exist doesn't depend so much on the observer as on, well, it's hard to say. Take the Federal Reserve. Back in 2011, …   The latest economic and domestic policy from Wonkblog   (Reuters/Mike Stone) By Matt O'Brien Schrödinger's cat might be one of Donald Trump's top advisers. His policy positions, such as they are, seem to be simultaneously dead and alive. Although in this case, whether they really do exist doesn't depend so much on the observer as on, well, it's hard to say. Take the Federal Reserve. Back in 2011, Trump decried its stimulus efforts as "absolute insanity" that were "really killing the dollar." By 2015, though, he was criticizing its strong-dollar policy instead, which would seem to imply that he thought it should keep interest rates lower for longer than it already had. Well, except for the fact that he then accused the Fed of keeping rates near zero for "political reasons" to make President Obama look good. Indeed, Trump even took this a step further by saying — and, to be clear, this is a conspiracy theory with no basis in reality — that Obama had actually "asked them not to raise them." Of course, it wasn't long before Trump was confessing that he was a "low interest rate person" himself, and that he was worried about the dollar getting strong if we hiked too much too soon. Or at least he was up until a few days ago, when he once again contended that the Fed is "keeping rates down so that everything else doesn't go down" and, in the process, creating a "false economy." ADVERTISEMENT   It's almost beside the point that Trump's latest position doesn't make any sense. Read the rest on Wonkblog.   Chart of the day Most people who receive government transfers do so for only a short period of time, new research shows. Jeff Guo has more. Top policy tweets "Robert Gordon and Erik Brynjolfsson make opposing cases for the future of U.S. productivity https://t.co/4Cr0TQjeAT" -- @went1955 "Wow. Another new monthly global temperature record for planet Earth, per NASA data out today https://t.co/DY1tOMuQ6z" -- @EricHolthaus "Washington outsider pauses populist campaign to admire his new luxury compound for DC elite https://t.co/CPpuxxf8SD" -- @drewharwell Most Recent Posts from Wonkblog Donald Trump says Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen ‘should be ashamed of herself’ Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday accused the Federal Reserve of keeping interest rates low for political reasons, the latest in a string of often contradictory critiques of the nation's central bank. By Ylan Q. Mui  •  Read more »   Ohio city shares shocking photos of adults who overdosed with a small child in the car By Christopher Ingraham and Carolyn Y. Johnson  •  Read more »   A maker of deadly painkillers is bankrolling the opposition to legal marijuana in Arizona The company is under federal investigation for improperly marketing the painkiller fentanyl. By Christopher Ingraham  •  Read more »   ADVERTISEMENT   Recommended for you   Federal Insider Federal news and policy update, in your inbox daily. Sign Up »         Share Wonkbook:       Twitter      Facebook Trouble reading? Click here to view in your browser. You received this email because you signed up for a Wonkblog newsletter. For additional free newsletters or to manage your newsletters, click here. We respect your privacy. If you believe that this email has been sent to you in error or you no longer wish to receive email from The Washington Post, click here. Contact us for help. ©2016 The Washington Post, 1301 K St NW, Washington DC 20071