Without singling out anyone in particular at the Fed, I’d like to point out that its proposed December interest rate hike smacks of racism at an institutional level.
The central purpose of the proposed rate hike is to slow the rate of inflation, but a well-known effect of any hike is to also slow the labor market. i.e., cause fewer new jobs to be created and decelerate the fall in unemployment.
Why is this racist? Because unemployment for black Americans is around 9% and inflation is well below the Fed’s target of 2%. If the unemployment rate for the white population was that high amidst low inflation, a rate hike by the Fed would be absolutely unthinkable.
We don’t have to use our imaginations to conjure up such a scenario, the white unemployment rate was 9% in 2009 amidst low inflation and a rate hike wasn’t considered a bare possibility at the time.
Our central bank should not be talking about how the country’s labor market is nearing full employment when black unemployment is still double white unemployment. Blacks in America deserve to be treated equally, and the Fed has already exhibiting racism by signaling its willingness under present circumstances to deliberately harm America’s unemployed blacks. I’d love to hear ideas on how to pressure the Fed not to take more racist steps down this path.