What I’ve Learned From Watching Powell’s Inflation Fight
The pace of price increases has slowed drastically from its June 2022 peak of 9.1%. I picked up some lessons observing the Fed along the way.
Believe what he says.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
About 19 months ago, I started writing a column on US markets just as inflation was hitting its highest level in 40 years. I’d been working in financial media since the Great Recession (including years in economically volatile Latin America), but I’d never seriously contemplated the threat of inflation this high in America. Like many people, I privately thought that inflation had been eradicated in the US decades ago.
Naturally, I made mistakes in my early columns (overplaying the parallels with the 1970s, for instance, and exaggerating the threat of a “wage-price spiral”). But I’d like to think that I’ve learned a few things about 21st century central banking and inflation along the way.