Right after his tax cuts and that 2000 dollar check.
US Economy - News, Updates and Discussion
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Right after his tax cuts and that 2000 dollar check.
Desperate sucker will say anything to boost his rating. Bud, midterms are still not here, wait a bit for bs!
SolarWarden
Trusted Member
A similar model of my house on my street sold for $1.1 million and doesn't compared to my house which has a beautiful yard especially my backyard. Just ridiculous.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
The insanity of some of the home prices in California is simply mind numbing.
SolarWarden
Trusted Member
It is... and because my house is "worth" over a million my property taxes have gone up significantly. If my house was in Texas or Florida and worth over a million it would be great but here means nothing just higher property tax.
This is the house that sold for $1.1 mil same model home as mine
The only thing this model has over mine is they spent a lot of upgrades inside the house but their yard is much smaller and just bland.
AZ_HighCountry
INT'L MOD
That is a small lot indeed. Nice house, but nothing for a yard.
SolarWarden
Trusted Member
Price for a home in Chula Vista with little yard is insane
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
China gives green light to importing first batch of Nvidia’s H200 AI chips, sources say
- The approval covers several hundred thousand H200 chips and was granted during Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang's visit to China this week
January 28, 2026
China has approved its first batch of Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips for import, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, marking a shift in position as China seeks to balance its AI needs against spurring domestic development.
The approval covers several hundred thousand H200 chips and was granted during Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang’s visit to China this week, the sources said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The first batch of approvals has been allocated primarily to three major Chinese internet companies, with other enterprises now joining a queue for subsequent approvals, one of the sources said.
They declined to name the companies that received the initial clearances. China’s industry and commerce ministries as well as Nvidia had not yet responded to requests for comment at the time of publication.
The H200, Nvidia’s second most powerful AI chip, has emerged as a major flashpoint in US-China relations.
Despite strong demand from Chinese firms and US approval for exports, Beijing’s hesitation to allow imports has been the main barrier to shipments.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
The US earlier this month formally cleared the way for Nvidia to sell the H200 to China, where the company is seeing strong appetite.
However, Chinese authorities have the final say on whether they would allow it to be shipped in.
It was unclear in recent weeks whether Beijing would grant approval as the government wants to balance meeting surging domestic demand for advanced AI chips and nurturing its domestic semiconductor industry.
Chinese customs authorities told agents that the H200 chips were not permitted to enter China, Reuters reported earlier this month. But Chinese technology firms have placed orders for more than two million H200 chips, far exceeding Nvidia’s available inventory, Reuters reported last month.
It remains uncertain how many additional companies will receive approval in subsequent batches or what criteria Beijing is using to determine eligibility.
Huang arrived in Shanghai last Friday for routine annual celebrations with Nvidia’s China employees and has since travelled to Beijing and other cities, Reuters reported last week.
However, Chinese authorities have the final say on whether they would allow it to be shipped in.
It was unclear in recent weeks whether Beijing would grant approval as the government wants to balance meeting surging domestic demand for advanced AI chips and nurturing its domestic semiconductor industry.
Chinese customs authorities told agents that the H200 chips were not permitted to enter China, Reuters reported earlier this month. But Chinese technology firms have placed orders for more than two million H200 chips, far exceeding Nvidia’s available inventory, Reuters reported last month.
It remains uncertain how many additional companies will receive approval in subsequent batches or what criteria Beijing is using to determine eligibility.
Huang arrived in Shanghai last Friday for routine annual celebrations with Nvidia’s China employees and has since travelled to Beijing and other cities, Reuters reported last week.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
Balancing act
The approvals of H200 suggest Beijing is prioritising the needs of major Chinese internet companies, which are spending billions of dollars to build data centres needed to develop AI services and compete with US rivals, including OpenAI.
While Chinese companies such as Huawei now have products that rival the performance of Nvidia’s H20 chip, previously the most advanced AI chip it was allowed to sell to China, they still lag far behind the H200.
The H200 delivers roughly six times the performance of Nvidia’s H20 chip.
Still Beijing has discussed requiring companies to buy a certain quota of domestic chips as a condition for receiving approval to import foreign semiconductors, Reuters previously reported.
The approvals of H200 suggest Beijing is prioritising the needs of major Chinese internet companies, which are spending billions of dollars to build data centres needed to develop AI services and compete with US rivals, including OpenAI.
While Chinese companies such as Huawei now have products that rival the performance of Nvidia’s H20 chip, previously the most advanced AI chip it was allowed to sell to China, they still lag far behind the H200.
The H200 delivers roughly six times the performance of Nvidia’s H20 chip.
Still Beijing has discussed requiring companies to buy a certain quota of domestic chips as a condition for receiving approval to import foreign semiconductors, Reuters previously reported.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
Fed holds rates steady, sees ‘elevated’ inflation and stabilizing job market
- Economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace,” Fed policymakers said
WASHINGTON: The U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday, citing still-elevated inflation alongside solid economic growth, and giving little indication in its latest policy statement of when borrowing costs might fall again.
“Economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace,” Fed policymakers said in the statement after voting 10-2 to hold the U.S. central bank’s benchmark interest rate in the 3.50%-3.75% range following a two-day meeting.
Both Governor Christopher Waller, a contender to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell when his term as central bank chief ends in May, and Governor Stephen Miran, on leave from his job as an economic adviser at the White House, dissented in favor of a quarter-percentage-point rate cut.
The Fed’s statement offered no hint about when another reduction in borrowing costs might come, noting that “the extent and timing of additional adjustments” to the policy rate would depend on incoming data and the economic outlook.
Meanwhile, inflation “remains somewhat elevated,” the central bank said, while the job market has “shown some signs of stabilization.”
Though the Fed noted that “job gains have remained low,” it also removed language from its prior statement saying that downside risks to employment had risen - an indication policymakers as a group are becoming less worried about a rapid downturn in the labor market.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
Fed policymakers ahead of this week’s meeting had largely characterized the job market as roughly in balance, with smaller gains matching the slower growth in the numbers of those seeking employment as a result of the Trump administration’s stricter immigration policies. The unemployment rate in December fell to 4.4%.
Powell is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT) to discuss the policy statement and economic outlook.
Powell is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2:30 p.m. EST (1930 GMT) to discuss the policy statement and economic outlook.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
Fed remains divided
The decision to maintain borrowing costs at their current level puts the Fed’s current monetary easing cycle, begun near the end of the Biden administration and continued after a pause of roughly nine months during President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, on hold again after three quarter-percentage-point reductions at the central bank’s final three meetings of 2025.
The rate cut at the December 9-10 meeting left the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee unusually divided.
Three of its 12 voting members dissented, with one in favor of an even deeper cut and two in favor of no reduction at all.
Those same divisions have carried into 2026, and recent economic data have done little to change the outlook for those officials most concerned that inflation is not progressing back to the central bank’s 2% target, or for those more worried about a rise in the unemployment rate if credit conditions aren’t loosened to encourage more spending and investment.
It’s a debate that could shape the first weeks in office of whoever is named to replace Powell in the top Fed job, a decision that Trump is expected to announce soon. Powell’s successor is expected to be in place to run the central bank’s June 16-17 policy meeting. Investors currently expect the Fed to keep rates on hold until then.
The decision to maintain borrowing costs at their current level puts the Fed’s current monetary easing cycle, begun near the end of the Biden administration and continued after a pause of roughly nine months during President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, on hold again after three quarter-percentage-point reductions at the central bank’s final three meetings of 2025.
The rate cut at the December 9-10 meeting left the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee unusually divided.
Three of its 12 voting members dissented, with one in favor of an even deeper cut and two in favor of no reduction at all.
Those same divisions have carried into 2026, and recent economic data have done little to change the outlook for those officials most concerned that inflation is not progressing back to the central bank’s 2% target, or for those more worried about a rise in the unemployment rate if credit conditions aren’t loosened to encourage more spending and investment.
It’s a debate that could shape the first weeks in office of whoever is named to replace Powell in the top Fed job, a decision that Trump is expected to announce soon. Powell’s successor is expected to be in place to run the central bank’s June 16-17 policy meeting. Investors currently expect the Fed to keep rates on hold until then.
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
Trump says US Fed should ‘substantially lower’ interest rates
- The Fed voted 10-2 on Wednesday to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged
January 29, 2026
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump slammed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s monetary policy on Thursday, saying the central bank should “substantially” lower interest rates a day after it paused its series of cuts.
The Fed voted 10-2 on Wednesday to keep the benchmark lending rate unchanged, prompting the US leader to renew his criticism of chairman Powell.
“Jerome ‘Too Late’ Powell again refused to cut interest rates, even though he has absolutely no reason to keep them so high,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
He called Powell a “moron,” adding: “The Fed should substantially lower interest rates, NOW!”
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
While Trump said that Powell “admits inflation is no longer a problem or threat,” the central bank in a statement Wednesday noted that “inflation remains somewhat elevated.”
Trump’s lengthy social media post also comes as his administration has escalated attacks on the central bank.
The president has been seeking to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, while the Department of Justice has launched a probe into Powell over renovations at the bank’s headquarters – prompting a rare rebuke from the Fed chief.
Trump’s lengthy social media post also comes as his administration has escalated attacks on the central bank.
The president has been seeking to oust Fed Governor Lisa Cook over allegations of mortgage fraud, while the Department of Justice has launched a probe into Powell over renovations at the bank’s headquarters – prompting a rare rebuke from the Fed chief.
