美联储主席Warsh：通胀过高，FOMC一致投票加息以恢复价格稳定

Our decision comes at a time when the American economy appears to be strengthening. New hiring. Private sector earnings. Business capital investment. Each of these markers has improved in recent months and is pointing in a good direction. Credit flows have been robust, particularly for businesses. And as I said at the policy symposium in Jackson Hole, I would be hard pressed to describe broad financial conditions as restrictive.

This view was widely shared by the committee, so we removed a dose of accommodation. Consider the geopolitical landscape of shocks and uncertainty, and you begin to appreciate the resilience of the US economy. Given that resilience and the potential for even greater performance, an attitude of optimism is exactly what I heard inside the FOMC these last two days. one basic sign of strength. Is the state of America's labor markets?

The jobless. The jobless rate remains low at around 4.1%, and both job openings and weekly hours have been increasing. Unemployment claims on a four week moving average are running at levels consistent with full employment. So the labor side of the Fed's congressional remit is in good shape. Yet for more than five years, inflation has been running above target. So our predominant focus is on the price stability side of our mandate.

The plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long. This summer's inflation readings do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved. Based on the most recent CPI and PPI data, the 12 month change in total PC prices likely was around 3.6% in August. Core PC and CPI prices running at about 3.2 and 2.4%, respectively. Too many categories are still posting increases above 3% on both a six and 12 month basis.

I noted in Jackson Hole that overall commodity prices also bear watching, and over the intervening period, the prices of many of these key inputs have risen. Since my first FOMC meeting as chairman in June. My colleagues and I have been unequivocal in our commitment to price stability and to our 2% PC inflation objective at our July meeting. We all agreed that inflation remained too high, and we expressed our joint readiness to act as circumstances might require.

And a good majority of my colleagues and I thought the wiser course then, would be to await new information in the intervening period. Last month in Wyoming, I expressed my commitment to a monetary policy discipline, not to a decision. I define the standard for action. We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective clearly and at sufficient speed. Today, the FOMC decided that this standard has not been satisfied.

The committee's unanimous vote shows our resolve to achieve price stability on a timely basis. We aim to ensure that credit and financial conditions are consistent over time with our mandate. That relative price changes in some sectors of the economy do not broaden that inflation. Compensation in market prices stays low and that inflation expectations remain well anchored.