‘New Chapter’ in Old Bottles at Federal Reserve Board

In his second interest-rate meeting press conference as Federal Reserve Board chair, Kevin Warsh looked more to the past than the future of monetary policy.  While noting the importance of substantive deliberations among Federal Open Market Committee members, Warsh emphasized the Fed has entered a “new chapter” in its history. Yet the subtext of his remarks – and notable in his previous statements – was a desire to return the central bank to its less transparent past where the inner workings of policymaking were shrouded in secrecy.