[DrVenture]

This seems to be a good time to summarize the FEDs function. "The Fed's modern statutory mandate, as described in the 1977 amendment to the Federal Reserve Act, is to promote maximum employment and stable prices. These goals are commonly referred to as the dual mandate."

They are not tasked with helping people with poor financial literacy to make better decisions. They are not tasked with controlling household debt.

And there are limits to what they can accomplish. The law of supply/demand dictates that if supply is cut severely, and demand remains the same, prices will go up. The length of the strike (as was stated) is what will matter here. My opinion is that while rate hikes do help with inflation caused by excess money supply, they may be useless in fighting inflation caused by supply drying up.

The FED told everyone exactly what the conditions for a rate cut would be about 12-18 months ago. It unfolded, as evidenced by job and inflation data. What would have been political, is if they had not lowered rates according to the data that they were presented, after stating explicitly what they were planning to do, well in advance.

The FED will not act to shore things up over a 1/4 -1% drop in GDP from where we are now, unless jobs get hit hard. And even then, they will wait for data, and then the impact will take time to work through the system. They already said they were not planning to go big on further cuts. Unless things get very dire, very fast, we should take them at their word on that.