Washington D.C. – The Labor Department’s latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report found that while overall inflation remains persistently high, it cooled slightly by 7.7% in October. In order to protect working families from an engineered economic downturn, the Fed should take a wait-and-see approach, rather than raise rates again. Last week, Government watchdog Accountable.US called on the Fed to ease their overly aggressive policy, which leading economic experts warn could threaten millions of jobs while doing nothing to address the real driver of out-of-control prices: corporate greed. 

An updated analysis from Accountable.US spotlights a growing chorus of warnings from a wide array of economic experts, labor leaders, and lawmakers who conclude hiking interest rates too quickly could make inflation worse and further hurt working-class Americans, all while doing little to address inflation drivers like corporate profiteering. Last week, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve body which determines interest rates, announced a 75 basis points interest rate hike, the sixth increase in eight months, over expert warnings that doing so would cause a recession and cost as many as 3.2 million people their jobs by the end of 2023.

The Fed stubbornly insists raising interest rates is the only way to drive down inflation, but we should be focused on corporate greed. Highly profitable corporations have only jacked up prices more on working families while rewarding wealthy investors with billions in new handouts. The Fed should pump the breaks, especially as leading economists warn continued aggressive interest rate hikes could crush millions of jobs. Throughout the pandemic, the Fed has catered to demands from big banks, hedge funds and other Wall Street special interests at the expense of average working families. If excessive interest rate hikes speed up the arrival of an otherwise avoidable recession, will the Fed take responsibility – or try to pass the buck as they keep making matters worse?”

Accountable.US spokesperson Liz Zelnick

Joining the List of Leading Voices Dispelling the Wisdom of Higher Interest Rates:

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