By announcing forthcoming interest-rate hikes at a time when total US employment is still below its 2019 level, the Federal Reserve is once again bending to pressure from economists and financiers. Whether or not it understands what it is doing, its war on "inflation" is really a war on American workers.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO – US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has now committed to putting US monetary policy on a course of rising interest rates, which could boost the short-term rate (on federal funds and treasury bills) by at least 200 basis points by the end of 2024. Thus, Powell yielded to pressure from economists and financiers, resurrecting a playbook that the Fed has followed for 50 years – and that should have remained in its vault.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO – US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has now committed to putting US monetary policy on a course of rising interest rates, which could boost the short-term rate (on federal funds and treasury bills) by at least 200 basis points by the end of 2024. Thus, Powell yielded to pressure from economists and financiers, resurrecting a playbook that the Fed has followed for 50 years – and that should have remained in its vault.