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Catherine Rampell: Keystone Cops capture U.S. economy

Markets have been plunging, with the S&P 500 down 20 percent from its September peak. A lot of factors have driven the correction, including President Trump's trade wars, his government shutdown and a surprise court ruling declaring Obamacare unconstitutional.

Trump needs a villain, though, and that villain can't be Trump. Why, according to the president, markets love Trump!

So instead, he declared the villain to be Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell, a man Trump personally chose for the job a year ago.

As Trump and his surrogates love to remind us, most major economic measures -- unemployment, gross domestic product, consumer spending -- still look strong.