Yet again, why does Jerome Powell continue to keep rates jacked up in a time of lower inflation?

So with inflation dropping back to an annual rate around 3% for most of 2023, many in the financial world were looking at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's Friday speech among other oligarchs at Jackson Hole, Wyoming to get an idea about what the Fed might do in the rest of 2023.

BREAKING: Jerome Powell says the Fed is ready to keep raising interest rates to fight inflation as Americans continue spending and the economy grows faster than expected. https://t.co/0CF8M5yoFI

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 25, 2023

Powell noted that the economy has been growing faster than expected and that consumers have kept spending briskly — trends that could keep inflation pressures high. He reiterated the Fed’s determination to keep its benchmark rate elevated until inflation is reduced to its 2% target.

“We are attentive to signs that the economy may not be cooling as expected,” Powell said. “We are prepared to raise rates further if appropriate and intend to hold policy at a restrictive level until we are confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward our objective.”....

Powell acknowledged the decline in inflation, which he called “very good news.” Consumer prices, excluding the volatile food and energy categories, have begun to ease.

“But two months of good data,” he added, “are only the beginning of what it will take to build confidence that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our goal.”

And Powell went further in this speech, reiterating which side he was on. And it's not the one of everyday Americans.

Powell downplays soft landing narrative: "Getting inflation sustainably back down to 2% is expected to require a period of below-trend economic growth as well as some softening in labor market conditions."

— Pedro da Costa (@pdacosta) August 25, 2023

For the 1000th time, I ask this question. What is so magical about 2% inflation? If we have wages growing by 5-6% (as they have been), and prices are only going up 3-4%, and we continue at full employment, why is this something that needs to be changed?

And easy for 70-year-old Jerome Powell to talk about imposing "below-trend economic growth and softening in labor market conditions." I don't think Jerry's going to have to worry about getting/keeping a job or in getting enough income to pay his bills. Prick.

I know President Biden isn't into rocking the boat or laying down any heavy influence on what is supposed to be an "outside agency". But it won't help Biden to stay in office if we fall into recession because Jerome Powell and other central bankers keep rates at this high level, and causes people not to buy houses or cars, or not be able to afford their higher costs of other debt.

Remember, Donald Trump threw a fit when the Fed Funds rate was at 2.25% in 2018 - below the rate of inflation at the time. So why shouldn't we ask why the Fed is choosing to have rates more than 2% above the increase in prices? These people think they are immune to the consequences of the extra costs they are putting onto many of us, and they need to be brought back to earth.