Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is seeking to reassure the public that the Fed will raise interest rates high and fast enough to quell inflation without tightening credit so much as to throttle the economy and cause a recession. But Powell is getting criticism on both sides of the political aisle. Democrats wondered whether the accelerated rate hikes will succeed in curbing inflation or tip the economy into a downtown. Republicans charged that the Fed moved to slowly to begin raising rates and now must speed up its hikes. Retired Ripon College economist Paul Schoofs says the Fed needs to be cautious when it decides about another rate hike at their next meeting.
