Fed's Mester
- You can see our policy affect the economy, cited housing, growth and labor market
- The question is whether it's sufficiently restrictive
- We are seeing the labor market coming into better balance
- I would want to see 'a few more months' of better inflation data
- At some point you need to worry about the other side of the mandate
- It's important not to wait too long to cut rates
- I'm pretty confident the committee is doing good work (and won't miss the turn in the economy)
- I can tell you that in 39 years, politics doesn't come into that room
Mester is set to retire next month so her comments about a 'few months' more of data ring a bit hollow. That said, they certainly represent the vast majority of Fed officials who want to see more data.