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With Fed Chairman Jerome Powell set to deliver remarks at the Brookings Institution today, the Fed’s excuses for more aggressive interest rate hikes wear increasingly thin amid the latest indicators that economic growth is up and inflation is slowing down. As government watchdog Accountable.US has documented, the Fed’s policy of repeated rate hikes run counter to warnings from a wide array of economic experts, labor leaders, and lawmakers who say doing so will destroy millions of jobs, all while doing little to address inflation drivers like corporate profiteering. 

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The economy is turning a corner with costs coming down for working families and jobs opening everywhere. Recession is not inevitable, but that depends largely on whether the Fed pursues more aggressive job-killing interest rate hikes. Even top Fed officials have acknowledged further hikes could result in recession, so here’s a thought: don’t. The Fed’s choice is clear: keep their foot on the gas with rate hikes that risk driving the economy off the cliff -- or pump the breaks before the economy stalls out.” 

Liz Zelnick, Accountable.US’ Director of Economic Security and Corporate Power

EXPERTS: DON’T DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD: The Fed’s ill-advised policy only draws attention from the real culprit behind out-of-control costs: corporate greed. Highly profitable corporations have kept raising prices on working families without justification while rewarding wealthy investors with billions in new handouts. Instead, the Fed wants to keep playing chicken with the economy with sky-high interest rates that more experts warn will lead to millions of layoffs. 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 bring about an otherwise avoidable recession, will the Fed take responsibility – or try to pass the buck as they keep making matters worse? 

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