HMM: The Fed thinks it’s fighting inflation. It’s starving the cure.

Kevin Warsh has described business investment as “the seed corn of future economic growth.” He is right. The Fed’s September statement described robust capital investment and strong productivity growth alongside resilient spending. Those investments represent businesses putting their money behind America’s future. Their success can mean better jobs, lower production costs, and more opportunity. That future belongs in the Fed’s calculation alongside the spending those investments generate today.

That is why a pause makes sense when officials meet on Oct. 27 and 28. September’s rate increase remains in place. Before raising rates again, the Fed should explain how much further inflation relief it expects, how long that relief would take, and what investment and employment it could put at risk. The benefits and costs deserve the same scrutiny.

Leaving rates unchanged during rising inflation goes against expert advice, but the experts also told us stagflation was impossible — right up until it happened in the ’70s.