Raphael Bostic, Interview: NPR

Fed Funds

“There was a lot of debate. Look, this wasn’t a straightforward decision. But at the end of the day, what we decided was that there was clear signs that the banking system is sound and resilient and that the efforts that the Fed took with Treasury and the FDIC to deal with the difficulties of those banks seemed to be working. And with that as a backdrop, inflation is still too high. You know, we’re at 6%, somewhere in that area. Our target is 2%. And so we needed to make sure that we stayed focused on that job because inflation is hurting pretty much all Americans.”

Inflation Expectations

“What we know is that when people expect inflation to be high, they do and act differently. And so we need people to have confidence that we’re going to get this under control so they make the best long-term investments that give them the skills and the talents that allow this economy to be maximally productive.”