Fed Chair Powell Claims “Healthy Diversity of Views” After Second Straight Unanimous Rate Decision

Plus: who threw the “free Palestine” brick through the window of a Boston kosher market?

Mark your calendar: coming this Thursday, June 19, at 10:30 am eastern time, we are planning a live video session with a New York City mayoral candidate, Whitney Tilson, who has been leading the fight against socialist boycott-Israel advocate Zohran Mamdani.

In today’s newsletter: the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, speaks at a press conference following the Fed Open Market Committee’s decision to hold interest rates steady.

Also, Pepperdine and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy launch a new “Master of Middle East Policy Studies” degree program.

And, some clues to help the Brookline, Mass., police in their investigation of what they call “a disturbing act of hate and antisemitic vandalism.”

The “groupthink” at the Federal Reserve has become a theme around here (see the April 22, 2025 article, “Groupthink Sets in at Powell’s Federal Reserve”). In a press conference this afternoon, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, addressed the issue.

“We have a pretty healthy diversity of views on the committee,” he said.

Powell’s answer came in response to a question by Nick Timiraos of the Wall Street Journal about dispersion in the “dot plots” of the various Fed Open Market Committee members, with some expecting no cuts later this year, and others expecting more than one cut this year.

Powell went on to say that Fed Open Market Committee members may have different forecasts and different reaction functions, or assessments of the risks of inflation or unemployment based on a given forecast.

Terrific. But when it comes to what actually matters—the rate decision to keep the 4.25 percent to 4.5 percent target for the federal funds rate—here is how the Fed’s press release from 2 p.m today put it: “Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michael S. Barr; Michelle W. Bowman; Susan M. Collins; Lisa D. Cook; Austan D. Goolsbee; Philip N. Jefferson; Adriana D. Kugler; Alberto G. Musalem; Jeffrey R. Schmid; and Christopher J. Waller.” It was a 12 to 0 vote.

The vote at the May 7 Fed meeting was also a 12 to 0 vote.

For contrast, check out another, healthier institution in Washington that also issued a decision today.