Jerome Powell's tenure as Fed chair is now marked by 65 consecutive months of above-target inflation, a streak that new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has publicly blamed on his predecessor. On the Odd Lots podcast, Bloomberg's Joe Wiesenthal highlighted this number, drawing a historical parallel to Arthur Burns, who presided over the Great Inflation of the 1970s. Adam Posen of the Peterson Institute said Powell was "late to the game in hiking in 2022" and "profoundly mistaken to cut multiple times last year," projecting inflation will hold between 3.5% and 4.5% with upside risk. Core PCE, the Fed's preferred gauge, stood at 3.34% year over year in July 2026, while headline PCE was 3.7%, well above the 2% target. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 4.79% on September 1, 2026, and consumer sentiment fell to 55.2, both signaling concerns about Fed credibility. History suggests inflation failures are punished more severely than unemployment, making the comparison to Burns a cautionary tale for Powell's legacy.
Persistent above-target inflation and Fed credibility concerns push Treasury yields higher, as seen with the 10-year at 4.79%.
