The FOMC: Too Little Too Late? The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) completes the first scheduled meeting of 2022 today. The FOMC gathers for two day meetings eight times each calendar year. They are the governing committee for monetary policy in the United States. Their primary objectives are to promote price stability and full employment. By price stability, we are talking about controlling inflationary pressures. Inflation has many definitions, but the one most commonly used is the consumer price index (CPI). Full employment can be achieved by best utilizing all available participants in the domestic labor pool. The balance between full employment and price stability has historically been described by the Phillips Curve. As the pool for available workers gets drained, it takes higher wages to attract (and retain) the best talent. This purchasing power then translates into increased demand for products and services - resulting in an increase in CPI. This feedback loop can be seve