Can Powell Raise Rates With the Arch of an Eyebrow?
Former Chair Alan Greenspan led the Fed slowly and instinctively, with sparse details. A break from the furious pace and hyper-transparency of the past year looks mighty appealing.
Who says I’ve got no touch? Watch me sink this one.
Photographer: Al Drago/The New York TimesAccelerate on the way down. Going uphill? Skip the elevator and try the stairs.
That could well describe the changing approach to monetary policy over the past year. Most central banks couldn’t move fast enough to ease in the throes of the pandemic. There was a global economy to save. So what if they overshot? The worst that could happen was overheating, an acceptable risk given the alternative. Now many officials are averse to doing much at all, and certainly nothing dramatic. Growth is returning — with a vengeance in some places — and inflation is getting up off the floor. Going slow is virtuous.