Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker warned Wednesday that the inflation picture has "deteriorated" since August amid high energy prices and said the Fed needs to keep overall prices down.
In a prepared speech given to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce's Annual Economic Outlook Conference, the Fed official said that a key inflation gauge, the PCE, rose significantly in September and October (November's figure will be released Friday). And, he said, given higher consumer price inflation numbers for last month, "the [PCE] numbers for November will be even worse."
"Because the job of a central banker is to protect the purchasing power of currency, it is overall inflation that we need to keep down, not just core inflation," said Mr. Lacker. "I am uncomfortable with the inflation picture."
My hero.
