Question for Fed: Has it waited too long to fight inflation?

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER
AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — With inflation surging, unemployment falling and wages rising, some economists are warning that the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to reverse its ultra-low-rate policies — a delay that could put the economy at heightened risk. On Wednesday, the government is expected to report that consumer prices jumped 7.1% the past 12 months, which would be the steepest such increase in decades. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is sure to be grilled on the issue during a Senate hearing Tuesday on his nomination for a second term. Inflation has become the most serious threat to the economy, a growing worry for the financial markets and a political problem for the Biden administration and Democrats in Congress.