Opinion | Biden and Powell Are at Odds on Inflation

If you were expecting Jerome Powell to unveil an elegant new intellectual framework for monetary policy in Jackson Hole, Wyo., last week, the Federal Reserve chairman’s speech on the need for “forceful and rapid steps to moderate demand” set you straight. But the Fed’s determination to pummel growth will only make matters worse so long as misguided fiscal policies engorge the money supply.

Welcome to the era of good-cop, bad-cop tactics from major government institutions. Fiscal and monetary policy are now working at odds to fight inflation. The Fed could crush demand by raising interest rates to stratospheric levels only to have a spendthrift White House and complicit Congress pump up consumer prices through fiscal measures that expand spending power—cash payments, subsidies, rebates, student loan forgiveness.