NPR.

This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Waylon Wong and I'm Adrian Ma.

So we've been closely watching the Federal Reserve all year long to see what it is going

to do with interest rates.

Today the Fed wrapped up its eighth and final interest rate decision of 2023,

and as expected it is leaving rates unchanged.

It also released productions showing that there could be three rate cuts next year.

But the Fed is not saying when it will start cutting rates.

And that is an important question because we know people are feeling the squeeze right now from higher

rates on mortgages and credit cards.

And there's a concept in monetary policy that can help us understand the Fed's options

for a potential rate cut.

That concept is called inertia.

It's a term that comes from the world of physics.

So we reached out to Regina Barber.

She is scientist and residence from NPR's science

podcast Shortwave. I actually really like inertia. I I taught first year college

physics for over a decade. I have a PhD in physics. I got you. Okay, let's put that

PhD to work. Can you sum up for us the law of inertia in a nutshell? This is

somewhat paraphrasing, but an object in motion

unless acted upon by a force, and an object at rest

will stay at rest unless act upon by a force.

...