As noted in surveys by Goodfriend and King (In: B. Bernanke, J, Rotemberg (Eds.), NBER Macroeconomics Annual, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1997, pp. 231-283) and Walsh (Monetary Theory and Policy, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) and exemplified by models analyzed in Taylor (1999), there is encouraging progress in developing optimizing trend-deviation macro models that provide useful insights into the transmission and design of monetary policy. Several controversial features of a minimalist trend-deviation model, with optimizing households, firms, and bond traders, are examined. Dynamic specifications are suggested to improve the data-based realism, while preserving the simplicity, of the minimalist model. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.