You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Sen. Warren Blasts Fed Chair over Plan to Hike Interest Rates

HeadlineMar 09, 2023

The U.S. Federal Reserve has signaled it will hike interest rates higher and faster than expected in order to slow down inflation, after recent data showed a stronger economy than forecast. Last year the Fed raised interest rates at the fastest pace since the 1980s. During a Senate hearing Tuesday, Democrat Elizabeth Warren blasted Fed Chair Jerome Powell for “gambling with people’s lives” by imposing rate hikes that would increase unemployment from 3.4% to 4.6% by the end of the year, according to the Fed’s own projections. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “Do you know how many people who are currently working, going about their lives, will lose their jobs?”

Jerome Powell: “I don’t — I don’t have that number in front of me. I will say it’s not” —

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “It’s just a math problem. 

Jerome Powell: — “it’s not an intended consequence. It’s not” —

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “Well, but it is, and it’s in your report. And that would be about 2 million people who would lose their jobs, people who are working right now, making their mortgages.”

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top