[mholyland]

> It's never been clear to me why it's a good idea to continually adjust the rate, as opposed to picking an ideal target rate and trying to keep it relatively stable permanently.

That target rate depends on many things in the economy that the FED has no control over, so they adjust the knob as best they can predict, to stear the economy to their dual mandate.

They need to keep inflation low (around 2%) and employment high, but they don't control what the government does in terms of raising/cutting taxes, what world events do to supply, and production.

But you're right, it's a blunt knob to adjust when there are so many variables at play.

[lapcat]

> to stear the economy to their dual mandate.

To be clear, I was implicitly questioning this. Expecting the Fed to control inflation or employment seems unrealistic, even silly.