"What's the rush?" Kashkari asked at an event at Michigan
Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, adding that
neither wage nor inflation data is giving any sign that the
economy is about to overheat and indeed may suggest that there
is still some slack in the labor market.
The Fed raised rates twice this year, including earlier this
month, and Kashkari dissented both times.
He disagrees with Fed Chair Janet Yellen, who sees unemployment
at a 16-year low and projects inflation will necessarily move
toward the Fed's 2 percent target. Yellen says the Fed needs to
keep raising rates to prevent inflation from overshooting.
Though Kashkari failed to persuade his colleagues in June that
they should leave rates alone, he continues to make his case for
it. On Tuesday, he repeated his view that with inflation
weakening in recent months, "I don't see what we are so worried
about."
"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."
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jonathan
Oatis)
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