Hi, I'm C. NBC producer Katie Kramer, today on a bonus holiday edition of Squack Pod.

Navigating this inflation nation with President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Loretta Mester.

We've seen really good progress over the last couple of years on inflation.

We're not there yet.

She says the battle isn't over till we hit that target inflation rate. It would be inappropriate to

keep rates at current levels until inflation gets to 2%.

Maintaining an independent Fed and reflecting on her long career

just a few weeks shy of her Fed retirement.

I've learned something at every meeting I've attended,

and I've attended under four different chairs,

so I've seen a lot. It's Wednesday, June 19th, Juneteenth, Squawk Pod begins right now. Loretta Mester departs her role running the Cleveland Fed, one of the 12 regional

reserve banks at the end of this month. She has been a policymaker at the Federal

Reserve for 10 years and was a deputy and a staffer for several decades before that. She has had a seat

at the table for the Central Bank's fight against a 40-year high in inflation, there for the hike, hike and more hikes, and for the Fed's ongoing debate to determine when enough was enough.

Regular listeners of this podcast know that we talk a lot

about the Fed's delicate dance towards stability. In the wake of the pandemic,

prices on everything surged, consumer goods, gasoline, technology inputs needed by manufacturers.

Since the 1970s, the U.S. Central Bank has had what's commonly called a dual mandate.

This was a congressionally determined clarification that the Fed's goals should be, quote,

maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates.

Now let's take the stable prices part of that list, inflation.

What's a level of price fluctuation or increase that they can be comfortable with.

...