Finance & Tax
“Jerome Powell’s rhetoric is dangerous, and a Fed-manufactured recession is not inevitable — it’s a policy choice,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said.
As traders work and watch, a news conference held by Jerome Powell is displayed at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, on July 27, 2022. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo
By Victoria Guida
09/02/2022 04:30 AM EDT
Updated: 09/02/2022 08:56 AM EDT
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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is entering perilous new territory as he warns the American people of coming economic pain from sharply higher interest rates, with signs of political frustration already surfacing.
With inflation at more than a four-decade high, Powell and other Fed officials in the past week have torpedoed the hopes of many investors, lawmakers and labor advocates that the central bank will be able to achieve a “soft landing” — a slowdown in growth that curbs spiking prices but avoids a damaging recession.
The more pain there is, the more lawmakers are likely to join Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in blasting the central bank, with progressive groups ramping up their criticism, saying the Fed’s actions will potentially lead to millions of job losses.
