Warsh, though, has maintained he will endorse raising borrowing costs if inflation doesn’t cool anytime soon, thanks in large part to the price spikes connected to the Iran War that began in February. The bulk of Wall Street analysts believe the Fed will begin hiking rates for the first time since 2023. Zandi, though, is arguing the central bank should tread carefully.
“The odds of a serious Fed policy mistake are uncomfortably high and rising. Markets are all but certain the Fed will raise rates a quarter point at next week’s meeting, and are pricing in more to come,” Zandi said in an X post. He argues the US economy is still in good shape, citing steady 2% growth and relatively low unemployment as factors for central bank policymakers to consider when making rate hike decisions.
“Inflation is too high, to be sure, running above 3%,” Zandi said. “But much of that is the fallout from higher energy prices and tariffs, supply shocks that rate hikes can’t fix and that should fade on their own so long as inflation expectations stay anchored, as they have.”
The Fed ‘can wait’
Zandi presented the economic landscape as a tricky one for the Fed to maneuver. The explosion in AI spending among tech giants has propped up equities and fueled demand for critical memory chips and other AI-related equipment to power the buildout. The latter has compounded inflation for certain products like smartphones, laptops and gaming consoles, in addition to the tariffs that President Donald Trump unilaterally implemented last year.
“To hit its inflation objective, the Fed either needs to rein in the AI boom or put even more pressure on the rest of the economy,” he said. “Neither is a good outcome. Of course, it doesn’t have to choose either. It can wait.”
Zandi warned of layoffs and an ensuing rise in unemployment if the Fed began to raise the federal funds rate. Those interest rates help set how much consumers pay on auto loans, mortgages, credit card debt and more. Increasing them is usually a step that’s taken to slow economic growth and tame inflation.
Zandi had previously warned in August that the Fed could jeopardize the US economy as well if it didn’t provide a clearer view on how it was treating those interest rate decisions.
The Trump administration is turning up the heat
If Warsh wants the Fed to become a quieter financial institution, Trump is making it hard for him to stay out of the way.
In an unusual social media post, Trump threatened to cut off trade with foreign nations if the Fed didn’t lower interest rates. “LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT,” the president wrote on Truth Social.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is pushing the Fed to delay any interest rate hike until after the November midterms. “I’d be wary of a rate hike,” Hassett said in a Fox News Sunday interview. “So I think if you want an independent Fed, one thing the Fed does is stay out of the way of elections.”
The Fed, though, is independent from the executive branch and its rate-setting policymakers have labored to maintain inflation-fighting credibility with financial markets. To list one instance: Under chair Alan Greenspan, the Fed raised interest rates in the months leading up to the 1988 presidential election.
Joseph Zeballos-Roig is a policy and politics journalist based in Washington D.C with a focus on economics. He is experienced in connecting the significance of events in the capital to the lives of everyday Americans whether its taxes, tariffs, interest rates or federal programs.
