Chicago Fed president Evans is on the wires. He says the Fed sometimes needs to take unpopular steps to combat inflation. Left unsaid was that the Fed has also taken very unpopular steps to avoid deflation in this present economic cycle.
Evans pushed back on the Ron Paul crowd which want to audit the FOMC’s monetary policy decisions. Evans and others (like me) believe this would damage the Fed’s independence on monetary policy and erode its credibility with the financial markets.
The economy is tentatively emerging from recession and inflation (and inflation expectations) are under control, Evans says.
