Editorial Board
Powell Can’t Disguise the Limits of Monetary Policy
The Federal Reserve has left the main questions about its new approach unanswered.
Details to follow.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has made his first policy announcement since unveiling the central bank’s new monetary strategy in August. Financial markets have plenty of questions about the plan, but Powell on Wednesday provided no further answers, except to keep saying it would be “very powerful.”
That’s certainly questionable — but the fault isn’t Powell’s. With interest rates close to zero, there’s only so much the Fed can do, and only so much the chairman can do to pretend otherwise.