The phrase “well-positioned” is fast becoming the Federal Reserve’s favorite overused mantra.

Top officials relied on it to characterize the stance of monetary policy well before the outbreak of the war in the Middle East, and they continue to lean on it today.

Yet, the economic landscape and the challenges have shifted markedly in that time.

This is one of several inconsistencies we have seen from the current Fed.

It stands in sharp contrast to the analytical and intellectual agility recently demonstrated by the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB).

(For a deeper dive, please see my previous post and Chris Giles’ latest column in the Financial Times.)

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