00:00As you know, Steve, we spend a lot of time in Cleveland thinking about inflation
00:02because we run the Center for Inflation Research.
00:05And I can tell you that that PCE number that came in at 0.25
00:07was exactly where our NowCast was projecting it to be.
00:11So it was right in line with what we were expecting.
00:13If you annualize that number, that gets you to about 3% inflation per year.
00:17And so what I see when I look at the numbers,
00:19and of course we've got a lot of time before our next meeting,
00:21so I don't want to prejudge anything,
00:24but I believe now is the time to act.
00:25I believe that we've been in an inflationary situation for more than five years.
00:30It's been running well above our target.
00:32I don't see any restriction in policy when I look at financial conditions
00:37and when I talk to market participants in the capital markets.
00:40I'm hearing businesses are very happy to go out and borrow.
00:43They're very happy to raise capital.
00:46They're not thinking about that as providing any restraint whatsoever.
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