Comment by dragonwriter

> The Fed has two mandates: maximum employment & stable prices.

It actually has three listed in the Federal Reserve Act:

* Maximum employment

* Stable prices

* Moderate long-term interest rates

It's popularly called a “dual mandate” because it is perceived that properly balancing the first two will naturally also achieve the third.

> If prices go up, the Fed is mandated to raise interest rate.

No, it isn't, especially if employment is already below the “full employment” level and expected to drop even without the rate hike. Demand-pull inflation in periods of strong employment and economic growth or looming deflation in periods of weak enoloyment and economic growth are easy-mode monetary policy choices (at least as to direction, magnitude may be tricky).

But tariff-induced cost-push inflation in weak growth slowing employment conditions, where Congress and the President decline to remove the non-monetary policy root cause, that’s hard-mode monetary policy, because the usual tools to address either the employment or price problem will make the other worse.