The economists commenting in the Post on the Fed's latest decisions on interest rates seem convinced that everything is just fine. One of them, Kurt Karl, chief economist for Swiss Re, is quoted as saying: "If you were doing a progress report and had milestones every six weeks, they are right on target. ... There's no need to change their game."
Actually, the economy is not following the Fed's target. They had projected that unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of the year would average 8.9 percent. It's already at 9.4 percent and clearly will be much higher by the 4th quarter. That is about as far from the target as the Fed could plausible be.
It is understandable that the Post would want to include some wildly optimistic comments, since these represent the mainstream of the economics profession. However, it would also be useful to include some from economists who are not known primarily for how wrong they have been about the economy.
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