On Wednesday the Federal Open Market Committee will conclude its first policy meeting of the year. The Fed is expected to issue two documents. The first is a jargon-filled policy statement that market pros and pundits will scrutinize intently for clues about when the next interest-rate increase will come. The second document—purporting to state the Fed’s strategy and long-term goals—is likely to receive far less attention. In past years, it recited vacuous truisms and provided neither constructive guidance nor any meaningful constraint on the Fed’s discretionary impulses.
Let’s hope the Fed takes the opportunity this year to announce a practicable long-term strategy and stick to it. I am afraid, however, this won’t happen. The central bank has offered plenty of plans over the years. But too often these prove to be as fleeting as the seasons.
Read the full article "America Needs a Steady, Strategic Fed."
