While the Fed has been right to keep rates low because inflation has been totally benign for years, that doesn’t mean they will start raising rates at the right moment. They would much prefer to raise rates late and be forced to tamp down some inflation than to raise rates too early and weaken the economy. They can fix the former, the latter would be a much bigger problem.
Tag Archives: Federal Reserve policy
Understanding Unemployment
With unemployment at 6.7%, close to the 6.5% level at which the Fed has said it would raise short-term rates, the Fed must change its short-term interest rate guidance. The Fed is wrestling with how much slack exists in labor markets and if the swollen ranks of the long-term unemployed will keep wages down or if wages will soon rise because the number of short-term unemployed is back to normal.