Balancing Inflation and Growth Part 4 of 13
Balancing Inflation and Growth Part 4 of 13
The Federal Reserve, unlike the Bank of England, has a dual mandate. We are charged with creating the monetary conditions to support sustainable noninflationary employment growth. We must keep our eyes on two things: economic growth and price pressures. Of course, this is easier said than done. It poses a conundrum of priority and balance. How should we weigh the risks of slow growth over the need to manage inflation? Reasonable men and women can agree that inflation is a sinister beast that, if untethered, will devour savings, erode the purchasing power of consumers, decimate returns on capital, undermine the reliability of financial accounting, distract the attention of corporate management and undercut employment growth and real wages. Thoughtful men and women can also agree that commodity trading courses at certain junctures, sluggish employment growth and financial instability present greater risks than inflation to the economic welfare of the nation. Both feverish price pressures and economic anemia matter, and both present great risk to our welfare. Both deserve our attention. But the question of the day is which deserves more of our attention right now.
