By Brian Kesten
Even as the U.S. continues to rebound from the financial
crisis that began almost a decade ago, the Federal Reserve announced
Thursday that the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) would continue to
hold rates at the record low. Although thirteen of seventeen Fed officials
still believe interest rates should increase in 2015, the Fed held off for at
least a few more months. As the global focus on Chinese currency depreciation and
stock market tumult continues to send shockwaves through international markets,
the
Fed pointed to stubborn domestic wage growth and fragile global economic
conditions in justifying the non-move.
Progressive economists, such as Joseph Stiglitz, had advocated
a rate hold as a means of reducing inequality and protecting worker wage
growth, rather than worrying about inflation. On the other hand, the pages of
the Financial Times are filled with opinions denouncing
the Fed’s skittishness, and questioning
the independence of the Fed board altogether.
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