Brown called to raise interest rates so dramatically that it could trigger a recession – warning it wouldn’t be “pretty or easy”
MAGA extremist Sam Brown has repeatedly pushed to drastically increase federal interest rates – an out-of-touch position that puts him at odds with Nevadans in both political parties.
As reported by the Nevadan News, during his last failed Senate run, Brown called for a major spike in interest rates that could have caused a recession – even admitting that it wouldn’t be “pretty or easy.”
According to the new report, Sam Brown continues to advocate for high interest rates and has even attacked Senator Jacky Rosen’s efforts to cut interest rates to provide greater financial relief to Nevadans.
Read more about Brown’s toxic economic agenda below:
The Nevadan News: Sam Brown once called for a massive increase to interest rates. Where does he stand now?
Casey Harrison
June 26, 2024
- When the United States was in the midst of a fight against inflation in mid-2022, Nevada Republican US Senate candidate Sam Brown had an idea he said would have stopped inflation in its tracks — but one that also could have prompted a recession.
- “They ought to be raising interest rates at a much more aggressive level to combat inflation,” Brown said at the May 2022 debate, hosted by Nevada Newsmakers. “When we have runaway inflation that’s the highest it’s been in over 40 years, they should be raising rates by two-and-a-half points or more immediately to try and combat that.”
- After Brown explained why he would raise interest rates so steeply, moderator Sam Shad subsequently challenged Brown on whether such a move would plunge the US into a recession. To which Brown retorted that such a move would have been much better for the economy in the long term.
- “I’m not saying it’s going to be pretty or easy,” the retired US Army Captain continued. “But I’m talking about what we need to do, is to ensure we’re doing the right thing. Even if it does cause temporary pain.”
- With the worst of the inflation crisis seemingly in the rearview mirror, Democrats like Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen have argued that keeping interest rates high needlessly inflicts financial pain on Americans, especially first-time homebuyers and those seeking affordable housing. Rosen, who will face off against Brown in November, has joined her Democratic colleagues in urging the Fed to lower interest rates as a way to provide relief for expensive housing costs, and has sent two letters to Powell demonstrating the effect high rates have on Nevadans.
- Brown, meanwhile, has continued to advocate keeping interest rates high and has criticized Rosen for wanting to cut rates too soon. The Nevadan has obtained audio of remarks Brown made to the Nevada Republican Club in February, in which he suggested he still supported higher interest rates and blamed Rosen and Democratic spending policies for inflation.
- “Our interest rates are high, housing affordability is an issue here than in most places in the country,” Brown said. “Jacky Rosen’s solution is to tell the Fed to lower interest rates. I’m afraid she doesn’t know how economics work. We can’t continue to spend the way we spend, and then demand the Fed lower interest rates and inflation go down.”
- Rosen has argued that the current interest rate has slowed the economy and is failing to keep inflation under the Fed’s preferred 2% target. In a letter sent earlier this month, Rosen told Powell she believes interest rates are also keeping current renters who could otherwise be a first-time homebuyer out of the market, thus creating a backlog of available units for other prospective renters.
- Mortgage rates are tied directly to the Fed’s interest rate, said Irwin, who added that Nevada is a unique housing market because of the limited amount of land it can develop, and that demand in the Las Vegas valley in particular is outpacing supply.
- In Rosen’s June 10 letter to Powell, she states that high interest rates translate to increased overhead for construction materials to build homes as well as increased mortgage rates for landlords, who often pass the surcharge to tenants, making rental units more expensive.
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