New York —
The public is fed up with the high cost of living, and the Federal Reserve is once again under pressure to act.
Kevin Warsh, the new Fed chairman, has vowed to get inflation back to 2%. Some investors suspect the Warsh-led Fed will show it’s serious about that pledge by raising rates as soon as Wednesday.
And yet: As powerful as the Fed is, its inflation-fighting tools are limited when it comes to combating the supply-driven inflation America is facing now.
The Fed can’t conjure a durable ceasefire in the war with Iran, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, nor disappear President Donald Trump’s high and volatile tariffs.
