Fed’s Waller: Will ‘stay on the job’ to achieve 2% inflation objective

• Fed is determined to bring inflation down to 2%
• Full speech

There is nothing particularly notable in the initial comments, which didn’t directly address monetary policy or the outlook for the economy.

Here is the conclusion portion of the speech:

I think it is worth concluding by emphasizing an important respect in which things have not changed since 1998 when Ben McCallum reviewed monetary policy developments. He noted, “Overall, the most fundamental change since the 1970s has been the assumption of responsibility by central banks for performance in terms of inflation rates. In 1998, it would be extremely surprising to run across a central bank statement that discussed medium-term inflation prospects in a manner suggesting that these are unaffected by monetary policy behavior.”²² That difference between 1973 and 1998 is also an important contrast between 1973, when U.S. monetary policy failed to play the part that it needed to play in restoring price stability, and the FOMC’s behavior over the past two years. Price stability is a primary responsibility of the Federal Reserve. This is why we have taken forceful steps aimed at reducing inflation—and why we will stay on the job to achieve our objective.