Should the Fed raise its 2% inflation target?
Marketplace
Marketplace
4.6 • 8.5K Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2023
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Federal Reserve is expected to pause its program of interest rate hikes this week as it tries to whittle inflation down to 2%. But with annual price gains hovering at around 5%, economists are divided on whether 2% is the right goal anymore. Today, we delve into the debate. We’ll also look at jobs created by the Inflation Reduction Act and the child care hurdles posed by unpredictable work hours.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Big news, one generous marketplace fan, Dr. Joe Rush, out of the great state of Florida, |
| 0:04.4 | is offering to match the next $50,000 in donations to Marketplace. |
| 0:09.2 | So please give now and double your impact. Thanks to this remarkable match, go to Marketplace.org. |
| 0:14.8 | Slash Donate. |
| 0:17.3 | This is going to be a week. Yes, there is that story, sure, but let's talk economy, shall we? |
| 0:26.4 | From American public media. This is Marketplace. |
| 0:39.0 | In Los Angeles, I'm Kai, Rizdole. It is Monday, today, the 12th of June. Good as always, |
| 0:44.2 | to have you along. Everybody, we are going to leave tomorrow's happenings in the Southern District of Florida |
| 0:50.3 | to our political reporter colleagues. And we will instead begin by pointing out once again |
| 0:56.0 | that the economy waits for no one. The latest consumer price index will be upon us tomorrow. |
| 1:01.6 | And Wednesday brings an interest rate announcement from J. Powell and the gang at the Fed. A skip, |
| 1:06.5 | perhaps, or a longer pause or something else. We will just have to wait and see. But right now, |
| 1:12.8 | as it stands, inflation is just under 5%. The Fed's target, of course, is two. But is the |
| 1:20.0 | right target should it be higher, maybe? Marketplace in Christen Schwab gets his going with the |
| 1:26.3 | arguments for and against. Every good debate starts with competing opinions. On the team for raising |
| 1:32.2 | the inflation target number is Lawrence Ball, an economist at Johns Hopkins University. |
| 1:37.0 | He thinks the Fed should double its target to 4%. |
| 1:40.4 | If 4% was low enough for Paul Volker, it should be low enough for all of us, I think. |
| 1:46.3 | Volker, the Fed chair during the Great Inflation of the 70s and 80s, |
| 1:50.1 | he let inflation settle at around 4%. And Ball says that worked for a bit. And that study show |
| 1:55.6 | when inflation gets below 5%, it's important for consumers. |
| 1:59.2 | 5% seems roughly like a critical level that when inflation drops below 5%, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

