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Federal Reserve Stands Pat: Is It Policy or Politics?

The Fed’s most recent preferred measure of inflation printed Friday at 3.2 percent, well above its 2 percent target.
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Federal Reserve Stands Pat: Is It Policy or Politics?
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies before a U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on “The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress” on Capitol Hill in Washington, on March 7, 2023. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
J.G. Collins
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Commentary

The Federal Reserve’s recent decision to keep rates steady and to continue quantitative tightening (QT) at its current pace could be considered Chairman Jerome Powell’s in-kind contribution to a Joe Biden 2024 political action committee. The more cynical among us might consider it a capitulation to politics over inflation, at least for the time being.

J.G. Collins
J.G. Collins
Author
J.G. Collins is managing director of the Stuyvesant Square Consultancy, a strategic advisory, market survey, and consulting firm in New York. His writings on economics, trade, politics, and public policy have appeared in Forbes, the New York Post, Crain’s New York Business, The Hill, The American Conservative, and other publications.
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