, Columnist
Fallible Fed Needs a Few Good Rules
Dwelling on the next rate increase misses the broader point.
A little more conversation.
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The top question at the Federal Reserve, and for Fed watchers around the world, is when will it raise interest rates. For months, the central bank has been signaling that -- as the effects of the financial crisis finally start to ebb -- it will act soon, perhaps as early as September. Alan Blinder, a former Fed vice chairman, says everyone is paying too much attention to the question of timing.
So let’s focus some of that attention on two other issues that ought to be before the Fed. One concerns the policy framework within which it makes its moves on interest rates; the other, the way it communicates those moves.