Today, the Federal Reserve took aggressive action to tackle the fastest inflation in four decades. The rate increase was a quarter of a percentage point and the central bank also signaled there will be a similar increase when they meet again at the end of July. Wall Street expected the big increase and all three indexes jumped today with the official announcement. But what it means to the average consumer is still an open question. The goal here is to slow the economy without causing a recession. As consumer prices skyrocket on everything from rents to groceries to gas prices, the Fed hopes to make it more expensive to borrow money means people will spend less on things like homes and cars leading to a drop in demand. And as we know from the gas station, fuel is pricy. So, President B today was scolding US oil companies for taking advantage of the crisis to make record profits.

With this rate hike, the Fed signaled its mean this growing inflation head on. It’s a bold attempt to throw cold water on a white-hot economy. The aggressive move from Central Bank today is urgent, according to Fed Chair J.P. The last time the Fed raised rates ¾ of a percent was in 1994 when inflation was only 2.7%. The Fed’s move today will make borrowing money more expensive. With rate hikes one and half percent already this year, a loan for the average new car price of $47000 will cost almost $60 a month more interest than last year. More expensive loans could discourage spending and reduce the insatiable demand now driving inflation to forty-years highs. But higher interest rates won’t lower gas prices, now over five dollars per gallon nationally. Today, President B called on seven US oil refiners to ramp up production and stop making historically high profit off Americans. The painful price increases are already too much for some people on fixed incomes.

:::tip scold

• : to censure usually severely or angrily : REBUKE 责备，责难

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:::tip insatiable

• : incapable of being satisfied : QUENCHLESS 不知足的，贪得无厌的

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