As the Federal Reserve kicks off another pivotal rate-setting meeting, lawmakers are reminding the central bank exactly just how high the stakes are.
In a letter sent Monday to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Democratic senators expressed concern about the Fed’s plan to continue raising interest rates at an “alarming pace” and Powell’s “disturbing warning to American families” that they should expect pain in the coming months.
The Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Katie Porter, highlighted comments from economists who worry the Fed is moving too aggressively to squash inflation. They pointed to a recent warning from the United Nations of a central bank-fueled global recession.
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Yet the lawmakers note that Powell himself has conceded the Fed can’t cure the supply-related problems that have lifted food and energy prices.
“There are many things we can’t affect, and those would be, you know…the commodity price issues that we’re having around the world due to the war in Ukraine and the fallout from that,” Powell said during a June press conference.
The Fed has signaled that its war on inflation will likely create job losses, a point the Democrats chronicled in detail in the letter. Last month, the Fed projected the unemployment rate will climb from just 3.5% today to 4.4% next year.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/01/economy/warren-powell-fed-job-losses/index.html