The Federal Open Market Committee voted to raise the federal funds rate for the second time this year in its June meeting, but not all committee members were on board with the decision.
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari was the only person to vote no. Now at the end of the month, at an event at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, Kashkari explained his thoughts on the Federal Reserve raising interest rates.
According to an article in Reuters by Ann Saphir, Kashkari asked the audience “What’s the rush?”
From the article:
With inflation low and wages showing little sign of an upward surge, the U.S. Federal Reserve should not be raising interest rates, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday.
"Why are we trying to cool down the economy, when there may still be some slack in the job market, and there is still some room to run on the inflation front?" he said. "We're not seeing wages climb very fast, and we're not seeing inflation. That tells me the economy is not on the verge of overheating."
So far, Kashkari has voted against raising rates both times they’ve raised this year, also voting no in the March meeting. The last time he agreed to raise rates was when the Fed unanimously voted to rates interest rates in the December 2016 meeting.
The article added that while Kashkari failed to persuade his colleagues in June that they should leave rates alone, he continues to make his case for it.
