4-26-22 fed reserve chair signaling sharp interest rate increases

The Federal Reserve Chair is signaling that sharp interest rate increases are likely in the coming months and that doesn’t come as a surprise to retired Ripon College economist Paul Schoofs.  “The way things have been going, the inflation rate being high and the realization we’re going to need the stronger policy, it’ll be almost surely an increase of one half of a percentage point,”  Schoofs said.  Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve must move faster than it has in the past to rein in high inflation.  Powell also suggested “there’s something in the idea of front-loading”  aggressive rate hikes as the Fed grapples with inflation that has reached a four decade high.  Schoofs says it’s a balancing act.