Hearing the Falconer #19 ~ 27-March-2019 ~ Federal Reserve Policy Shows an Example of Moderation

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world....
from The Second Coming, William Butler Yeats, 1919

The middle of the road is all of the usable surface.
The extremes, right and left, are in the gutters.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

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27-March-2019: Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged
Federal Reserve Shows an Example of Moderation
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The Fed looks for the right balance between interest rates that are too high and interest rates that are too low.

In December the Fed was predicting two interest rate increases for 2019.
Now they are saying there will be none.

This change comes as predictions suggest that economic growth in the United States might be slowing down and unemployment starting to increase.

Federal reserve policy is a great example of moderation in action.
If interest rates are too high they can strangle the economy.
If they are too low, the economy might grow too fast and trigger inflation.

During the financial crisis that began in 2007-2008 the Fed eventually dropped interest rates all the way to zero trying to help the economy get moving again.
Over the last few years they have been slowly raising interest rates to avoid overheating the economy and also to give themselves room to react by lowering interest rates if there is an economic downturn.
Obvivously you can't lower interest rates if they are already zero!

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The "Hearing the Falconer" Library

Books for Independent Thinkers

Moderates: The Vital Center of American Politics, from the Founding to Today

The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made It

Unapologetically Moderate: My Search for the Rational Center in American Politics

The Deliberate Moderate: Influencing From the Middle

Eisenhower: The White House Years

The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison

Lincoln

Reflections of a Radical Moderate

Washington: A Life

The Reluctant Republican: My Fight for the Moderate Majority

Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life

Theodore Roosevelt: A Life

The Three Languages of Politics: Talking Across the Political Divides