Jerome Powell: “The question you raised, if I answered it, it would be along some kind of a political avenue.”

the outlook for employment and inflation does not appear to have changed much since our September meeting

It is a big risk to our independence if we were to stray into areas where we shouldn’t that really aren’t part of our mandate.

It is not a foregone conclusion

If we move too slowly, there may be unnecessary losses, painful losses in the employment market.