The Federal Reserve has conducted our nation's monetary policy for 99 years without a formal inflation target. During those years, inflation was among the variables considered by the Federal Open Market Committee when conducting monetary policy, but the committee did not target a specific rate, according to a paper published by the San Francisco Fed. Inflation targeting crept into the FOMC's modus operandi in 2000 with their informal adoption of 1.5%, elevated to 2% in 2007, and formalized and officially published at 2% as measured by the core personal consumption expenditures index (PCE) in 2012. Inflation has hovered below that level since onset of the subprime crisis in 2007 and the lingering question is, why? Despite the Trump tax cut, increases in employment not seen in years, and substantial wage growth -- any one of which in the past has been sufficient to trigger inflationary pressures --  it has remained stubbornly dormant. Let's review how we got...(Read Full Article)