5

The following site as well as other websites state that President Trump used the expression “going loco” referring to the Federal Reserve Bank and their interest rate policy.

“The problem I have is with the Fed,” he told Fox’s Shannon Bream, pushing back on allegations that trade tensions with China were roiling financial markets. “The Fed is going wild. They’re raising rates and it’s ridiculous.”

Delving further into the nuances of monetary policy, he added that “the Fed is going loco.”

I couldn’t find any video in which the President uses such an expression. Did he say it?

user
  • 735
  • 1
  • 5
  • 12
  • 3
    Not really an unusual expression, although possibly one that is less common these days. From Spanish 'loco' meaning mad. Perhaps most famously used in the song "Loco in Acapulco" by the Four Tops in 1988. – PhillS Oct 12 '18 at 19:36
  • 1
    @PhillS - yes, but definately a rare expression https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=going+loco%2C+going+crazy&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cgoing%20loco%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cgoing%20crazy%3B%2Cc0 – user Oct 12 '18 at 19:41
  • 8
    @user070221 - Any US-raised boy of his age would be quite familiar with "loco" from TV westerns. – Daniel R Hicks Oct 12 '18 at 21:14
  • 10
    This isn't really a strange thing for any American to say. It's not speaking Spanish, as a phrase it's part of American English. It's not the least bit scandalous. – Matt Samuel Oct 12 '18 at 23:07
  • 3
    Trump knows all the best words. – Andrew Grimm Oct 13 '18 at 04:39
  • 4
    Is there a reason to be skeptical that he said this? He says lots of things, as do thousands of other politicians around the world. Sometimes they use expressions you might not hear very often, but ... so what? If the answer was no, what difference would it make to the quote? It's very different from when someone says something offensive, and is called out on it; then, it *matters* what the words used were. – IMSoP Oct 13 '18 at 10:15
  • 1
    @IMSoP because it is an unusual or ,as observed, obsolete expression, not to mention the fact he is referring to the FED. Did I upset anybody for asking this? Should I not be skeptical about what the papers say. What’s the problem? – user Oct 13 '18 at 10:35
  • 1
    I'm struggling to see the "notable claim" here. I'm only a few years younger than Trump and would not perceive anything strange about the use of "loco" in this context. Any boy who watched TV westerns in the 50s and 60s would know the term. – Daniel R Hicks Oct 13 '18 at 12:08
  • 12
    @user070221 I'm not upset, just bemused. By all means, be skeptical, but this seems an odd detail to spend energy examining. What would be someone's motive in reporting that he said this if he didn't? It seems no more important than what colour shirt he was wearing at the time, unless the entire speech was fabricated. – IMSoP Oct 13 '18 at 12:25
  • @DanielRHicks - Heck, I wasn't raised in USA and I know the term. – user5341 Oct 13 '18 at 13:18
  • 1
    @IMSoP are you saying my question id off topic? – user Oct 13 '18 at 13:23
  • @IMSoP I will ask on meta about your issues – user Oct 13 '18 at 13:24
  • @user070221: "it is an unusual or obsolete expression", are you actually surprised that a person born in 1946 is using odd and outdated expressions? – Giter Oct 13 '18 at 13:37
  • @Giter - I am not surprised, I just asked if he really used that expression. And if older Americans are familiar with it, I think younger generations are not. – user Oct 13 '18 at 14:16
  • 4
    @user070221 I disagree with those calling it an "odd and outdated expression". I'm an American in my early twenties and I'm familiar with the word. In any case, if you have a question about the currentness or popularity of a word you know where to ask, since the comments section here isn't really the place to be discussing this. – Laurel Oct 13 '18 at 18:44
  • @Laurel - I didn’t start the discussion about the popularity of the expression. I was just wondering if Trump actually used the expression referring to the FED. – user Oct 13 '18 at 19:06
  • 1
    @DanielRHicks - Why westerns? I am familiar with the term and it was used a lot in my childhood, but I never attached that to any western show/movie context. – PoloHoleSet Oct 17 '18 at 21:48
  • @PoloHoleSet - I'm thinking it was a favorite term of Andy Devine's. – Daniel R Hicks Oct 17 '18 at 22:12
  • @DanielRHicks - Okay. By time I was a kid, in the 70s, it had migrated to common use for "crazy". – PoloHoleSet Oct 18 '18 at 15:10
  • @PoloHoleSet - It meant "crazy" in the 50s too. – Daniel R Hicks Oct 18 '18 at 16:46
  • @DanielRHicks - didn't mean otherwise, just that we didn't realize it had come from a popular western-based TV show, originally. I learned something new! – PoloHoleSet Oct 18 '18 at 16:48
  • 1
    @PoloHoleSet - I can't say that Andy Devine introduced the term, but it was a common term in kiddie westerns of the 50s and 60s. – Daniel R Hicks Oct 18 '18 at 16:52
  • The *OED* has "loco" meaning "insane" in 1852. They do say this usage was originally American slang, from Spanish. – GEdgar Oct 18 '18 at 18:35

1 Answers1

21

He did, during a call to Fox News on Wednesday (October 10) evening. See e.g. this video at 0:46.

The FED is going loco, and there's no reason for them to do it, and I'm not happy about it.

You can also see this on this other video (official Fox News channel) at approximately 20:18.

paradisi
  • 2,201
  • 1
  • 22
  • 25
Clement C.
  • 454
  • 3
  • 8