Missing a wingbeat

摘要

Jeffrey Lacker has held a vote on the rate-setting committee of America's Federal Reserve for less than a year. But on August 8th he did something no committee member has done since June 2003: he voted against the chairman, Ben Bernanke. Mr Lacker, head of the Richmond Fed, thought his fellow central bankers should raise interest rates for the 18th time in a row. Instead, they decided to pause in their long migration back to a temperate monetary policy, holding the federal funds rate at 5.25%.