When you’re actively working for the president of the United States, you can’t just come out and publicly say, “This guy is a complete and total moron,” however accurate or obvious the statement may be. Oh sure, you can say it in private, or in an anonymous op-ed, but attaching your name to such comments is generally considered inadvisable if you want to stay employed. That’s why, during the period in which Janet Yellen served as the chair of the Federal Reserve under Donald Trump, we never heard her telling reporters things like, “He makes the cast of Bachelor in Paradise look smart,” or “I honestly and truly believe my Schnauzer could do a better job.” But as of last February, Yellen no longer works for Trump—because he literally thought she was too short for the gig—and thus is feeling a bit freer in her choice of words.

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In an interview with Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal, Yellen was asked, point blank: “Do you think the president has a grasp of macroeconomic policy?” And instead of dancing around the issue or offering some kind of “I don’t know what’s in his heart” answer, she responded, “No, I do not.” That most of us had a hunch this was the case does not change the fact that it’s shocking Yellen would just come out and say it! And, apparently, macroeconomics is just one of several things she thinks President Buy and Sell knows nothing about, the others being international trade, business, and the entire purpose of the Federal Reserve.

Ryssdal: Tell me more.

Yellen:: Well, I doubt that he would even be able to say that the Fed’s goals are maximum employment and price stability, which is the goals that Congress have assigned to the Fed. He’s made comments about the Fed having an exchange-rate objective in order to support his trade plans, or possibly targeting the U.S. balance of trade. And, you know, I think comments like that shows a lack of understanding of the impact of the Fed on the economy, and appropriate policy goals. . . . I think [his lack of understanding about the effect of his trade tariffs] is . . . creating a lot of uncertainty for businesses, and I think my own view is that those shifts are likely to be adverse for the U.S. economy. . . . And when I continually hear focus by the president and some of his advisers on remedying bilateral trade deficits with other trade partners, I think almost any economist would tell you that there’s no real meaning to bilateral trade deficits, and it’s not an appropriate objective of policy.

Other things that keep Yellen up at night include Trump’s apparent lack of understanding about the Federal Reserve being an independent organization, and how crucial it is for the economy that Americans have confidence in the central bank. (Since appointing Jerome Powell, the president has blamed the Fed for market sell-offs; complained that he should be given “help” in the form of low interest rates; told reporters “the Fed is going loco,”; insisted his “gut” knows more about economics than Powell’s brain; and declared, “The only problem our economy has is the Fed. . . . The Fed is like a powerful golfer who can’t score because he has no touch—he can’t putt!”). “President Trump’s comments about Chair Powell and about the Fed . . . concern me,” Yellen told Ryssdal, “because if that becomes concerted, I think it does have the impact, especially if conditions in the U.S. for any reason were to deteriorate, it could undermine confidence in the Fed. And I think that that would be a bad thing.”

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For all of her unusually candid remarks, Yellen would not provide a scenario in which she would pick up the phone and yell “CODE RED! CODE RED!” Though, to be fair, she didn’t say it’s something she would never do—only that it hasn’t happened yet.

Ryssdal: This is kind of a shot-in-the-dark question, but what would it take for you to pick up the phone and call Kevin Hassett at the Council of Economic Advisers? Or Larry Kudlow at the National Economic Council, and say “Hey, Lar?”

Yellen: Well, that’s something that I have not done since leaving the administration. I had regular contact with the Council of Economic Advisers and the N.E.C., as well as Treasury, while I was at the Fed, and I’m sure that Chair Powell and others continue to do so. I haven’t picked up the phone.

One person who likely will be picking up the phone, to tweet a reaction to this interview in a pitch only dogs can hear: @realDonaldTrump, if he can tear himself away from his much-awaited boys’ trip with Kim Jong Un. (The North Korean leader, Trump has said, is doing an incredible job with the country’s economy.)

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Speaking of that trade war . . .

On Sunday, Trump announced he would delay an increase in tariffs on Chinese goods as negotiators from the U.S. and Beijing attempt to hammer out a deal, tweeting “A very good weekend for U.S. & China!” But if Wall Street (and the companies and consumers paying for the trade war) is looking to the president for any real signs of what’s going to happen, they should probably look . . . literally anywhere else:

Analysts . . . struck a note of caution after Trump told a group of U.S. governors on Monday that, while he hoped a trade deal could be swiftly reached, there was still a chance that it might not.

“Might not happen at all,” he said. “But I think it’s going to happen and it could happen fairly soon. The relationship [with China] is great.”

The president offered an equally helpful update on the situation Monday in a tweet that basically ended by saying “Next week, on ‘The Apprentice‘”:

The Trump administration doesn’t want its anti-climate-change panel to actually have to answer to anyone

Remember last week, when we learned that the administration was reportedly in the process of forming a committee to question the government’s own findings re: the catastrophic costs of doing nothing about climate change, spearheaded by a guy who believes “the vilification of carbon dioxide . . . differs little from . . . the Soviet extermination of class enemies or ISIL slaughter of infidels”? They‘re still apparently working on it, but with one slight tweak:

The White House plans to create an ad hoc group of select federal scientists to reassess the government’s analysis of climate science and counter conclusions that the continued burning of fossil fuels is harming the planet, according to three senior administration officials. . . . The idea of a new working group, which top administration officials discussed Friday in the White House Situation Room, represents a modified version of an earlier plan to establish a federal advisory panel on climate and national security. That plan . . . would have created an independent federal advisory committee. The Federal Advisory Committee Act imposes several ground rules for such panels, including that they meet in public, are subject to public records requests and include a representative membership. The new working group, by contrast, would not be subject to any of those requirements.

Unsurprisingly, people who believe climate change is an actual thing aren’t thrilled with this plan. “I never thought I would live to see the day in the United States where our own White House is attacking the very science agencies that can help the president understand and manage the climate risks to security of today and tomorrow,” retired Rear Adm. David Titley, who sits on the advisory board of the Center for Climate and Security, told The Washington Post. “Such attacks are un-American.”

Warren Buffett not in a hurry to buy more shares of a company that cost him $4 billion last week

Which seems reasonable:

Warren Buffett isn’t giving up on Kraft Heinz Co. after its $15.4 billion write-down last week, but don’t expect him to buy more of its shares. “I have absolutely no intention of selling. I’ve got absolutely no intention of buying,” Buffett said Monday in an interview with CNBC. He won’t buy more of the packaged-food giant “because it isn’t worth as much.”

Buffett said while he thinks Kraft Heinz is a “wonderful business,” he sees better places to deploy more money than buying the portion of the company he doesn’t already own. Berkshire is Kraft Heinz’s largest shareholder, with a 27 percent stake, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In other Buffett news, the investor, who released his widely read annual letter to shareholders on Saturday, doesn’t think much of bitcoin:

“Bitcoin has no unique value at all,” Buffett told CNBC’s Becky Quick in a “Squawk Box ” interview Monday. “It is a delusion, basically . . . It attracts charlatans.”

In 2018, Buffett called the cryptocurrency “probably rat poison squared,” so he’s definitely been consistent here.

The Trump Organization pulled in a sweet haul from foreign governments last year

The family business said Monday that its profits from business with foreign governments were up from $151,470 in 2017 to $191,538 in 2018—money it donated to the Treasury in an attempt to “fend off any questions about whether President Trump is violating the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause, which bars the president from accepting gifts or payments from foreign governments.” According to reports from The Washington Post, at least some of that cash came from the Saudi government, which spent big at the president’s hotel in Washington, an outlay that arguably paid off big time.

Elsewhere!

Most Economists See U.S. Recession by 2021, Survey Shows (Bloomberg)

Much-Hyped U.S. CBD Market May Reach $16 Billion by 2025, Cowen Says (Bloomberg)

Ex-Trump campaign staffer accuses president of forcibly kissing her (Politico)

“We fell in love”: Trump and Kim shower praise, stroke egos on path to nuclear negotiations (The Washington Post)

Apple’s Deal with Goldman Has Wall Street on Defense (W.S.J.)

Facebook content moderators are coping with P.T.S.D. symptoms by having sex and doing drugs at work, report says (CNBC)

Peloton Picks Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan to Lead I.P.O. (Bloomberg)

Trump’s tough student and work visa policies are pushing legal immigrants to Canada (CNBC)

The Hot Duck has nothing on these fancy pigeons (The Washington Post)

Midtown subway escalator malfunctions, nearly turns into human meat grinder (N.Y.D.N.)

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