r/wallstreetbets • u/Force_Hammer • 1d ago

News Powell sees tariffs raising inflation and says Fed will wait before further rate moves

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/04/powell-sees-tariffs-raising-inflation-and-says-fed-will-wait-before-further-rate-moves.html
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u/jasonridesabike 1d ago

Fed only acts on hard data and predictions on hard data. They don't respond to politics. It's by design, if they did otherwise it would jeopardize fed independence. JPow made that point very clearly in the speech and I believe to address these sorts of calls to action.

The fed isn't acting until blood is in the streets, one way or the other; and stagflation implies hike.

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u/AverageLatino 23h ago

As they should, the remaining trust in the american economy is due to the Fed independence and reliability, but I do wonder if JPowell will have to pull a Volcker if needed.

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u/mongoosefist 22h ago

He would be negligent not to at this point.

Trump is going to nominate a chair that will be leading the fed in exactly a year, and although the Fed **should** be independent, you'd have to be very naive to believe the next chair won't be a puppet.

If jpow doesn't go full Volcker this inevitable recession is going to turn into a full blown depression.

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u/KriosDaNarwal 22h ago

is 1 year, 3 quarters realistically enough to go full volcker? Also if he does, trump will blame the bad economy on him

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u/mongoosefist 21h ago

If he cranked up interest rates 5% per meeting, he could stop inflation in its tracks. The economy is cooked regardless, but if rates were something like 15% this time next year we'd certainly have one less problem to deal with