Sen. Warren Hounds Fed Chair Powell Over Rate Hike Job Losses
You have to hand it to her! Elizabeth Warren stands up for working people, confronting the leader of the nation's central bank on continued interest rate hikes. Via Business Insider:
On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before the Senate Banking Committee on monetary policy actions and where inflation is headed as the US continues to recover from the pandemic. While the Fed slowed interest rate hikes in February by 25 basis points — a slowdown from the prior 50 basis point increase in December — Powell indicated that hikes will continue this year as inflation remains above the 2% pre-pandemic goal.
Warren has long criticized Powell's aggressive tactics to fight inflation. She has previously argued that continuing to hike interest rates could cost Americans jobs and trigger a recession, and she honed in on that point during the Tuesday hearing.
"So Chair Powell, if you could speak directly to the 2 million hard working people who have decent jobs today, who you're planning to get fired over the next year, what would you say to them?" Warren asked. "How would you explain your view that they need to lose their jobs?"
Watch the video. She's right.